Legal Leverage: The Suits Job
by Mei Neko
Summary: When Gram dies, Mike Ross gives up on the chance in becoming a lawyer.  Instead he becomes part of a group called Leverage.  But as the years past, one job will bring Mike back to the one man who he thought had his back - Harvery Specter. M/M
1. Chapter 1: The Start

**Disclaimer**: Leverage and Suits are not mine, will never be mine, and so don't sue me. I'm only going to put up this thing once so everyone get it into your heads that this is free fiction with no profit for me other than having fun.

**To LiliFayre – good friend and writer who has encouraged me in writing this fic and gave me some excellent ideas. Plus this girl writes excellent fics!**

**Warnings:** Slash for Suits, bad language, implied sex, violence, cross-dressing, taizers, and Parker. Spoilers for Suits up to episode 10 and spoilers for Leverage from season 1 to season 4.

**Summary/Intro**: When Gram dies, Mike Ross gives up on the chance in becoming a lawyer. Instead he finds himself with a group of people who he trust to be family. But as the years pass, one job with the Leverage group is going to take him back to the one man who once believed to have his back.

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><p>Legal Leverage: The Suits Job<p>

By Mei Neko

Chapter One: The Start

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><p><em>He was dreaming it again.<em>

_It was the dream he carried with him for the last four years. The worst part was that this dream was actually the past. And it always started out the same way. _

_The dream always started out with him running desperately reaching towards Gram's room. He could hear the erratic beeping of the EKG – the sounds of Gram's heart failing. The shouting could be heard distantly but for some reason, he could never get any closer. What felt like minutes and possibly hours it took for him to reach his Gram's room but he was getting there – he could see the light from her room, a sharp contrast to the darken hallway. He was going to make – this time he was going to make it._

_But as one foot stepped across the threshold of the room, the EKG gave out the loud flat line wail and he opened him mouth to scream – _

Blue eyes opening in horror, Mike Ross barely realized that he had thrown the tiny traveling clock across the opposite end of his hotel room. The sound of thin plastic breaking registered in his ears before he groaned and sat up on his bed. Rubbing his hands against his tired face, Mike could see the faint bristle of whiskers that had grown overnight and each fold and wrinkle that were caused by hours of stress and lack of sleep. Another full day of sleep and he would have his baby face looks back.

Getting up, he realized that it was early morning from the light of the windows in the hotel suite he had paid for. It would have taken years for him to even get a chance at getting a suite much less using it for a small vacation if he had stuck it out as a fake lawyer. Walking over to the balcony doors, Mike ignore the chill that steep through his half naked torso and the feeling of gooseflesh forming on his skin. God, the sunrise looked gorgeous Settle, Washington and he wished fiercely that Gram could see this with him.

Wishing that she could see the gray fog being slowly pierced away with the sun's red, orange, yellow, and a hint of blue green rays like a butterfly tearing away the cloudy cocoon with its bright wings, Mike leaned forward against the rail and watched for nearly an hour before going back into his room to bathe away the nightmare's sweat.

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><p>He was checking out of his room when the text on his cell buzzed.<p>

Mike took the time to thank the receptionist and enter the cab waiting for him before checking the message.

_Got a job._

_-Nate_

The young man gave a snort at the short message but that was Nate. The Mastermind of their group never text long messages unless necessary. Mike could only imagine that the older man had been compiling a list of marks and received a call about one of them. Which meant that by the time he got back to Boston and gave himself a couple hours in his high rise apartment loft in the city, Hardison their genius hacker would have everything they could possibly have on their target. And that meant Mike would have to look over the research to provide Nate the necessary ins and outs that helped form the awesome cons. He shivered at the thought of going against Nate.

These days, Mike had noticed that there was a darker side to the leader and the rest of the 'children' had noticed it too. The only thing that prevented them from confronting Nate like in the past years was that this time Sophie was in on whatever was bugging the older man. It looked like the beautiful Grifter was turning into the Mastermind's rock; which was good, because Mike so did not want to have the fear of going to prison on his head again – that Sterling was such a pain in the ass to deal with. Also having an out of control Nate was not fun to deal with.

Which was funny because when Mike first met Nate, he didn't think that there was anything wrong with the man. Mike remembered how he had overheard a conversation at a coffeehouse with a corrupt CEO and his bitch like lackey. He had ran away after Gram's funeral, gave his notice over an email and just ran to LA with whatever cash he had before the fateful day where he passed a man in a suit waiting in line for his order and overheard something about people being taken care of and a bomb at an address he was texting.

It only took a glance for Mike to memorize the address and but failed to see the number being texted to. So he took a minute to see how far away the address was and winced that it was pretty darn far – the next town. He had wasted money with the cab to get there and only end up wasting more when he asked the cab to follow the procession of a police car escorting an ambulance. At that time, he had no idea just what he was doing much less thinking about.

Finding the people was actually easy – all he had to do was look for the police men. Getting to them however was tricky. But he managed by acting out as a lawyer who was suppose to be on his day off but was force to take on a case. Mike had bitched and moaned like the best before the police allowed him access.

Turned out that he really didn't need to do anything.

The room he entered was holding two men, one in his late thirties and the other looked only a few years older than Mike. Both men were suspicious but were impressed that he managed to get into the room with the clothes he was wearing – a long gray tee and jeans. He was introduced to Nate Ford and Eliot Spencer and learned that there were two others – Alec Hardison and Parker. When Nate asked Mike why he did what he did; Mike really had only one answer:

"It was the right thing to do."

That satisfied Nate and in turned kept Mike from being harmed by Parker. He joined the four to Hardison's place where Nate had propose that they get the guy who tried to kill them. When Mike heard the words about Nate's son, the young man figured that this was someone who lost a loved one and someone he could probably relate to.

Doing the con was actually quite fun for Mike. He helped Nate do research on Sophie's (who Mike thought was pretty scary – both with her grifting skills and her inability to act on stage) role about African aero service industries and impressed everyone with his memory. Well, everyone except for Parker who didn't understand the big deal until later in the year. Mike even acted out as a lawyer (which was tricky but with Sophie's help, the Nigerians didn't realize that he was trying to act out as their lawyer instead of Dubenich) during the meeting with the Nigerians.

The most exciting part was escaping while the FBI flooded the meeting room with Sophie and putting on the FBI jackets. He had almost exploded with laughter as the real agents passed them by without questioning them.

When he looked down at the check that Hardison gave him – he nearly had a heart attack at the amount. It was enough to buy a mansion and hire the best nurses for his Gram for the rest of his life. It was more than what Harvey and the rest of the firm could make in ten years. Mike remembered just how bitter he felt as he looked down at that check – if only Gram hadn't died, they could have traveled around the world like she dreamed about as a little girl.

Everyone was suppose to split up after that, but everyone including Mike wanted to keeping working together, to do more cons. And it was even better that Nate wanted to do jobs that would help people. The work was even better than his time at Pearson and Hardman because the people he worked with actually do want to help instead of making money.

It wasn't the dream job that Mike had wanted but it was fun. There were good and bad times like any other job. Sometimes Mike felt like he was hanging by a thread like he did when he worked for Harvey, but Nate always came through. Nate was like the father that all of them of ever had and Mike felt more than hero worshipping with the older man. There were plenty of times all of their lives had been endangered but they all got each other's backs when it came down to it.

It's been about four years since he joined with them. He had spent two of those years running away from New York and his past. It wasn't until the group did a con in Montana that Mike decided to check up on Trevor. With the money he had, Mike made sure that Trevor's bills were paid for the rehab center and was pleased to learn that Trevor managed to clean up nice enough that he worked as a manger in a small town restaurant.

The meeting between two childhood best friends ended up with Trevor giving Mike a right hook to the jaw and almost getting fired. Mike had assumed that his old friend figured out that he and Jenny sort of dated but never got any further than heavy make-out stage. Turned out that Trevor had tried to contact Mike for the past two years and only got information out of Jenny who had been hysterical after learning about Gram's funeral that took place about a month earlier while Mike was living a new life. The punch was really for Jenny who had been furious that Mike did not trust her enough to lean on and she had told the truth to Trevor about their sort of relationship.

Ironically enough, Trevor had been cool about it – mostly because Mike hadn't slept with Jenny and soon the two actually started a long distance relationship. However it wasn't until a few drinks at a local bar that Trevor dropped a few bombs on Mike.

"_Dude, I'm sort of relieve you did try to hook up with Jen, for a while, I thought you were crushing on that boss of yours."_

_Mike blinked as he looked up from his second beer._

"_Wha? What boss? Harvey? You thought I had a thing for Harvey?"_

_Trevor gave a braying laugh at the expression on Mike's face before downing the rest of his beer. Mike signaled another for his friend but surprising enough, Trevor held out a hand for the bar tender to stop before ordering a virgin Blood Mary. _

"_Promised Jenny that I would clean up my act for good before I go back to New York for her. Two beers is my limit for weekdays and I seriously need to be coherent to have a conversation with you." He explained and sipped the tomato juice with the gross amount of hot sauce in it. "So I heard that you quit that law firm of yours after what happened to Gram."_

_Mike fiddled with the bottle for a moment before the old age habit of baring his soul to the one person who had been a constant in his childhood came to play. _

"_There was this client who wanted to fire a guy because he faked his resume. Faked graduating college, faked his license, but he worked his ass off for the job and was like the top. One background check and he got fired – forget about the years of work he did. There was this whole embezzlement case going on and he helped out but he still got fired because of the fraud."_

"_Dude," Trevor breathed, his eyes widen in realization with the story and how it affected his best friend. _

"_Yeah, and all I could think about that it could be me in a couple of years. One really through background check and that could be me. I thought I was living my dream and getting my chance but reality just sucks." Mike grumbled and set his beer down. "I mean for a long, long time I thought that I could live up to whatever potential Gram thought I have but the longer I worked there, the more I can't stand what I have to give up."_

"_Hmm."_

"_I mean, Harvey goes on how he's living the better life because of what he did and who he step on. Everyone at Pearson and Hardman is going on about these mock trials that are fake and they only want to see associates break witnesses and just go for the win. I mean, what happened to being a decent human being!"_

"_Mike, you do know how many jokes there are about lawyers and going to hell right?"_

_At that, both men laughed like crazy at the irony of life. _

"_Yeah, well, I'll be going to Hell for a different reason. So short story, ran away, found a new job that actually helps people, and get benefits of traveling around the country at times. What about you? When are you going to New York and back to Jen?"_

Turned out that Jenny had decided to open up a café in the city but she is currently saving up money with a job as a secretary at some corporation. Trevor had his hopes that the job he has now, he would have the experience in running the place so Jenny could concentrate on her passion for cooking. Mike wished him and Jenny luck with their goals and took the time to memorize Trevor's current information from his cell phone.

It was about a couple of months before Mike called in on Trevor, the man had nearly killed his ear drums by yelling how Mike was an utter bastard and the bestest friend in the history of best friends. The bank account that Mike had set up for Trevor had enough zeros for the man to move back to New York, get an expensive piece of ice for Jenny, and create a four star restaurant called Suits. Mike's only asked for thanks was that he gets meals and drinks on the house if he ever comes by – for life.

He so far stopped by three times since then. Once for the opening, second was just after the job with the bastard who was using kids to smuggle antiques, and the third time was after the job with the con artist and her sons with the funeral home. That last one had been hard on Mike and the couple had been understanding enough for Jenny to cook him a good old fashion meal of mac 'n cheese, meatloaf, and green bean casserole.

"Sir, we are here."

Mike blinked and gave a wan smile at the taxi driver. Looking over at the meter, he pulled out a couple fifties and paid the man.

"Keep the change." He replied before getting out of the cab. The driver's rapid thanks fell to deaf ears as Mike pulled out the small black suitcase with him.

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><p>Nathan Ford was beginning to regret this just a bit.<p>

Well, not the whole concept because if he didn't have it, Nate would have most likely been dead with alcohol poisoning. Not that he quit the whole drinking thing, but it was good to have something that kept him occupied. And he had to admit, that being a Mastermind was actually good for his ego. Being the leader of a group like Leverage is actually satisfying.

His team can coordinate and pull off the best of the best when compared to private armies, corrupt governments, corrupt corporations, and just anyone who screws with the innocent. He has the best grifter with Sophie, the most skilled hacker with Hardison, the best hitter with Eliot, the craziest thief with Parker, and the baby of the group but also the best fixer – Mike Ross.

Each of his people has their strengths and their weaknesses. With Hardison, the Hacker tends to put too much detail that it sometimes gets him into trouble. Eliot's problem is that he has a hard time leaving any abused woman or children alone. Parker's lack of social skills sometimes gets them all into trouble (but thankfully Sophie is dealing with that). Sophie's problem is her weakness in expensive art, but it rarely shows. However with Mike, his weakness is worrying unnecessary about the little things which tend to drive everyone up the wall.

"Nate, this is bad."

"I know, Hardison." The Mastermind muttered into his glass of whisky.

"Do you?" Hardison snapped as pictures and articles appeared on the screens across from them. "I'm talking about Narada bad, Borg invasion bad, Jar Jar Binks bad! We are one man down bad!"

"I know." Nate replied dryly as he looked at the information the Hacker provided. "But the Alton Corporations have been a target and we got a lead into it. There may be a bit of a complication but – "

"Complication? The client thinks that that the law firm he hired is helping them! And it's not any law firm – it's _that_ law firm. You know, the one – "

"Hardison, I know." The older man snapped, his temper getting close to fraying. "But it's also an advantage that it's that firm. We have a better idea on how the people are classified and we can find out for sure if they are involved with Alton Corps. Getting involved with them will give us a good starting point."

The blissful silence from Hardison proved that the Hacker finally understood what the Mastermind was thinking. The team was going to do this job and no matter what, their first target is going to be Pearson and Hardman.

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><p>So, what do you guys think of it? Totally a Suits and Leverage fan here! Say yah to Leverage being renewed for a 5th season!<p>

Please read and review!


	2. Chapter 2: The Job

Okay, here is the second chapter. I would like to thank LiliFayre who has kept me going and giving me ideas when I get stuck. Plus her fics are awesome! People need to read them!

Also, I like to thank everyone who has reviewed, made my fic their favorite, and clicked my fic for story alert because it made me feel loved!

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><p>Chapter Two: The Job<p>

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><p>Mike knew something was up the moment he entered Nate's apartment.<p>

Not that it was actually hard considering how wide Sophie was smiling, how Eliot was not looking at him in the eye, how Nate twitched at his greeting, how Hardison pretended to be busy, and how Parker was – No, actually the part of Parker skipping around with her bowl of cereal was the only normal thing in the room.

"Okay." Mike drawled out and stalled a bit by taking a long sip of his coffee before walking towards everyone else. "I don't think it's April Fool's Day since we're in the month of January and I'm pretty sure that we did fine in the last job. Or is there something really embarrassing on YouTube about me that I haven't seen yet?"

He started panicking when no answered. It looked like something really bad has happened and no one was going to tell him. Oh god, was it Trevor and Jenny? Did something happen and now those loser weed dealers are after them again? Well, Mike could fix that. It should be easy enough to convince Hardison to hack into the IRS and have some false tax frauds put into someone's account.

"Everyone is acting weird because they're worried about this new job we're taking except we have to go to your old job to do this new one and Hardison thinks that you won't be able to do it because they know you and Eliot thinks that we shouldn't even consider the job because –" Parker cheerfully word vomited everything while still crunching on her cereal. Mike briefly wondered just how many spoons of sugar she added to the stuff.

"Yes, thank you Parker," Mike interrupted with a smile (no need to get snippy with her, who knows what she might steal from him in retaliation – he had to buy a new bike because she stole the damn frame when he refused to let her pick the movie for movie night) before he turned to the others, "Are we doing a job against my old law firm?"

He didn't know how to feel about that. Numb was the feeling that was superior out of them all with a dash of vindication, a bit of nausea, a pinch of fear, and a sprinkle of curiosity. It took him a second to remember everything he knew about Pearson and Hardman before he frowned. Taking his seat at the table, Mike took a deep breath before asking the question.

"What's the job?"

It turned that the job was the sort story where little successful company is getting harassed by a big corporation. At first it just the basic merger but little company refused. Then comes in the boring but mostly effective harassment tricks each ended with an offer. Finally the harassment got so far that a small bomb was used on one of the company cars.

"Now, the owner did file charges with the police and an investigation is going on for the bomb. However his company is taking a hit and so he went out to sue." Nate added when Hardison finished the debriefing.

"If these people are smart, the bomb could be made out of anything from a grocery store. But a small amount of C-4 being bought on the black market isn't out of the way." Eliot commented as his eyes trained on the image of the damage car.

"Yes, but he can sue over harassment. Records – "

"If he had any records of said harassment, any decent lawyer can convince a jury or threaten the opposition to settle. So why does he need our help?" Mike asked as he nervously played with his cooling coffee. "Does he want us to break in and get actual proof?"

His gut clenched as Nate tapped at the flat screen of their smart table and images of two familiar people appeared on the screen. It was headshots of Jessica Pearson and Harvey Specter.

"Our client hired Pearson and Hardman to take the case. Now a little under a month ago, everything was looking good. But lately our client has been getting calls of delays of the meetings, subpoenas not being processed, and at one point had a meeting canceled on him. He's afraid that they're compromised." Nate answered. "Harvey Specter was the one who took the case. Now we're not even sure if that's true anymore."

"So a cover up?" Eliot suggested with a look towards Mike. The Fixer stared at the screens and absently gnawed on his bottom lip.

"Eliot." Hardison snapped as the Hacker gave the Hitter a glare that stated 'that's not cool, bro.'

"Michael, I'm sure that there is an explanation that makes sense." Sophie began but Mike shook his head.

"It could be. If it affects the firm, Jessica would do it and if he doesn't see an advantage to disagree, Harvey would follow her lead. But Harvey has better tactics in holding off a client; it might be possible they're hiding something bigger than a bit of malpractice."

"Ohh! Are they hiding something super cool and valuable? Can we steal it and give it to the client?" Parker asked eagerly, this time finished with her cereal. Everyone just shook their heads at the Thief. Sometimes they really don't understand where her wires are crossed.

"A company mole." Nate commented with thought. "Much simpler than buying out a law firm and cheaper too, but leaves us with a lot of suspects."

"That's not the bad part. No doubt the entire company knows that there is a mole and they're doing everything they can to find them. It's bad because Louis's tactics are utter shit – one time, he offered ten Gs to find the culprit who turned in our client lists to a rival firm." Mike added with a groan. "God, and he's tends to screw up if no one reins him in. Good lawyer, but a crappy guy."

"Ten Gs? He must really want the guy." Hardison whistled with a shake of his head.

"But we can cross him off our list. Louis is loyal to the firm. He'll do his best to make Harvey look bad, but not at the expense of the firm. That is one line he won't cross." The Fixer replied while shaking at his head because he was defending one the few men he hated. Christ, Louis was such a bitchy creep.

"Nate, if they're doing a witch hunt, it can cause some panic, maybe enough to get us some loose lips." Eliot pointed out.

The Mastermind was quiet as he processed all of the information that was given so far. He had an idea on what he wanted to do, but he was going to need Sophie's mind and some more information. Plus it would keep the 'kids' busy enough for him to relax before the plan.

"Okay, guys. I need you kids to go to New York. Secure a safe house and get everything we need. Eliot, Mike, go look into the bomb investigation, see if you can pull anything out it from the police. After that, I want you to look into the older archives to see if there's a reason why Alton Corps is interested in our client's company – might be for property reasons. Hardison, Parker, check on the law firm. I want to know the status of the case, see if anyone in the firm is getting pay offs, and the security there."

Turning towards Mike, he gave the young man a stern look.

"You need to keep a low profile. I don't want anyone knowing that you're back in town. Let Eliot do the talking."

Everyone gave a nod to the orders before rushing out of the loft to pack for their trip. It was a few minutes later before Sophie broke the silence.

"Nate, you do know that we might have to pull him from the con." The Grifter warned as she fiddled with her bracelets. "And if I know what you're thinking, that's something we can't afford."

He gave a nod at that. Nate understood what Sophie meant. A job like this was tricky already and there is always the possibility that it could go worse like in some of their cons. There were too many times the 'kids' were the ones whom got the bad end of the deal. Mike and Parker were the luckier ones out of the four but that didn't mean it would stay that way. However, Sophie must have something else she wanted to say because she had that tone going on. It was her grifter tone and Nate just had to wait her out a bit to get the real question.

"Do you think," Sophie paused for a moment as she pressed her lips before continuing, "Do you think he might want to go back?"

So that was the problem. Somehow, Nate knew that was the question going on in everyone's mind. Looking back, he vaguely remembered how Hardison kept looking over at Mike throughout the debriefing, trying to find a sign or clue. Eliot had his arms crossed the entire time and barely looked at the Fixer. As for Parker, well, Nate really hadn't noticed anything strange about the Thief but it would be a matter time before she gets with the program. Getting up, Nate held out his hand to the woman who took it, but the wary look was still on her beautiful face. The Mastermind briefly thought that such a look was never meant to be on her face.

"Mike's a good guy." Nate said as he led them out of his loft. "He likes to help people."

"Nate." Sophie protested but a finger on her lips stopped the rest of the words from forming.

"Not finished yet," he teased with a tender smile, "Mike likes to help people. He's not interested in workplace politics, money is not much of a motive now, and he's smarter now. Mike is not going back."

The look of relief on Sophie's face was enough to make his day.

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><p>Harvey Specter glared down at the files before him.<p>

Closing his tired eyes, he leaned back against his chair and gave out a huge sigh. Jesus, he was so tired of this case. What was supposed to be an easy case that he could have finished in a week was being dragged out into a mess that even the worst associate couldn't have created. That was saying plenty considering the amount of utter crap he had to deal with for the past four years.

A sharp pain shot through his temples as he remember the reason why he had to suffer the utter crap of useless associates. In retrospect, he shouldn't have gotten Mike involved in that damn case, but he had gotten used to having an associate and used to Mike getting all the boring shit out of the way. What he didn't expect was for the damn kid to break into the company and jeopardize the firm because he believed what the fired executive had said.

Goddamn the kid's caring streak.

But it was that caring streak that saved the firm from bleeding anymore money, money that the bitch had the gall to buy a vacation home and invite Jessica to. They had settled that case with the money lost and more for the interest.

And when the kid started to make a fuss about how he could get caught, Harvey dismissed the whole thing. Because the kid wouldn't get caught if he just acted like the man he should be. It was obvious to Harvey that the kid had the smarts but just needs the experience. If he had just walked the walked, all of the little things wouldn't have mattered.

Except it did matter to the kid. Louis's stupid questions, the associates' shitty attitude, and the fact that any of those damn lawyers could have recognize the kid for helping them cheat on their LSATs were things that drove the kid up the wall with nerves. Worries that meant nothing to Harvey because he has common sense. All the kid had to do was to show everyone who the boss was.

Funny thing was that Harvey didn't even see the side blow that came. He had assumed the kid took his words and just went along with it. All of the briefs were done, paperwork turned in on time, and Louis didn't bitch as much to Harvey about Mike. Work was going so well that he took a three day mini-vacation out of the city with a lady friend who he no longer remember because she had dropped his cell phone into a freaking lake.

When he finally got anywhere near a phone, Harvey discovered that Donna had been trying to reach nonstop over his vacation and she had been pissed as hell because Mike had quit while he was gone. As in the kid went right up to Jessica with his resignation and simply quit. Harvey had not been too surprise that Jessica accepted the resignation – the kid when needed can be convincing, but he was surprised at the fuss Louis made when he came to work.

The junior partner had bitched and moaned about how Harvey must have done something for one of the most competent (in Louis terms – great working slave) associates the firm ever had to suddenly quit. In his goddamn office – with Donna watching with an upturned nose. Luckily it was only for a day and Harvey had bribed his secretary with her favorite coffee treat for a month before she finally patted his arm in a truce.

Harvey had tried to find Mike afterwards. Mostly he wanted to yell at the idiot for throwing away the second chance he had given the young man. Then he'll force the kid to sign a contract that states he stay as Harvey's associate for next ten years – screw it if Jessica ever thinks the kid will make partner. But when he reached to the given address, Harvey learned from the landlord that Mike had broken his lease and packed everything out that he owned. The furniture was still left in the room and he barely saw anything that was considered to be the kid's.

Next, he tried contacting anyone he vaguely remembered were the kid's friends and family. He made Donna call the grandmother only to learn that the woman had died nearly a month ago from a stroke. Harvey had been shocked at the news because the kid looked so normal; he had never guessed that Mike had just lost the only living relative he had for a month. The kid had always sulked whenever Harvey made him do overtime and miss a visit with the woman. Donna also mentioned that there had been a small funeral but the body had been cremated and the ashes given to the grandson. Everything had been paid in cash – leaving no trail.

The next logical step was the blond Jenny and the best friend Trevor. But both of them were surprised that Mike had disappeared and Jenny had been upset about the death of the grandmother. When Harvey talked with Rachel the paralegal, the girl had just been as shocked as everyone else. None of the associates had been much help with the exception of one – Harry or Harold, whatever the curly haired blond was called. While most of the associates had claimed they had no idea (at the same time insinuating that he could use their help – God, it was like having a harem of horny girls only it was associates and there wasn't enough money in the world that can make him touch them with a pole), Curly had stupidly went up to Donna about his information thinking that telling the secretary would be safer than the senior partner.

One minute, Harvey had been contemplating in wasting time by spinning in chair and the next, the redhead comes stomping in dragging a terrified Curly by his decently quality tie. It took a few false starts and Donna hissing at the associate, but the whole story finally comes out. Curly had noticed at least a week or two before Mike bailed that the kid had been taking in a lot more work. The kid was always the last to leave and the first to be in to the point that Curly thought Mike hadn't left the office if it wasn't for the change in suits. Curly had even offered to help which Harvey thought was probably the one kind gesture Mike ever received from his colleges. Instead Mike had been nice to Curly and took on a few briefs for the associate and had them finished when Curly came in for work.

Harvey then realized how Jessica allowed the kid to just quit right then and there. The kid had told her he had finished at least a month's worth of work in advance – more than enough for a two weeks' notice.

"Harvey?"

Raising his head from his hands, Harvey looked over to his new and longest running associate – Rachel Zane. The young woman looked as tired as he felt. Rubbing his temples to relieve the pain, Harvey waved her in.

"What is it, Zane? Any news about those finances?"

"No," Rachel answered with a wince and dumped a pile of briefs. "I'm still looking through them, but they sent out everything. Nothing looks suspicious so far."

Christ, they had received the finances two days ago. Mike would have been done overnight - earlier if he didn't go out for pizza. Except he really couldn't blame Rachel for being normally smart and brilliant. At least the woman was through and actually did quality work. Being the best paralegal before becoming a lawyer has some perks; plus it kept most of the associates from harassing her unlike with Mike.

Harvey knew that he had to quit comparing Rachel with Mike but he missed getting his cases done at a quicker pace. It gave him the excuse to retain more clients than any other senior partner and the down time between cases came more often.

"Anything else?" Harvey asked before he started slowly on the new briefs. He could see Rachel fidgeting from the edge of his sight. "Out with it Zane."

"I saw the client in Jessica's office just a minute ago." She confessed wearily. This got Harvey's attention immediately. "I don't know much, but I overheard him saying that if there isn't any good news for his case, he's going to look for alternate help."

"Shit." Harvey muttered before shaking his head. It was bad that the client had gone to Jessica instead of him and it looked like Jessica was covering his ass again. Not that there was much he could say. He had already assured the client at least three times since disaster upon disaster started and it looked like the client was getting tired. Louis had been no help (not that Harvey would ever ask again) because the junior partner was acting like a freaking bloodhound – looking for the leak.

Looking over at his associate, Harvey waved her away and she simply did as bid. Both of them were tired as hell since they had taken the case and everything was becoming bleak with each day, except Harvey had no plans in quitting. These bastards are playing a dirty game that Harvey was having a difficult time in pinning down even with his investigator.

But Harvey Specter doesn't lose and that's what keeps him going.

* * *

><p>Okay, second chapter done! What did you guys think of the interactions between Mike and the Leverage team? Did it seem believable to you guys? I hope it did. And did Harvey seem right to guys? I didn't want to make him out of character that much and I know I have this down as slash, but seriously Mike and Harvey in my story are a bit slow on the whole relationship thing. Mike with his confusion between two girls before he left and Harvey – enough said.<p>

Please read and review! Send me some love!


	3. Chapter 3: The Snag

I would like thank everyone who has reviewed this fic and made me feel loved.

**To LiliFayre – Thanks for the support you have given me! Hope you're Dad is getting better!**

**To Fuzukat – Thanks for pointing out the misspell on Harvey's name!**

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><p>Chapter Three: The Snag<p>

* * *

><p>"Why is everyone acting so weird?"<p>

Hardison sighed as he pushed the janitor cart through. Lord, he love the girl, but sometimes Parker's empathy is either rather sharp or just way out there in the ballpark. The two of them were currently disguised as part of the cleaning crew at the law firm. It was already pretty late but Mike had warned them that there was a good chance that a lot of lawyers were still working. And he implicitly stated to avoid Louis at all cost because Louis Litt is the most paranoid, nosy, and annoying man in the firm and would jump at the chance to find anything fishy going on.

"_Hey, how are you guys doing over there?"_

The Hacker exchanged looks with Parker before checking over his mobile.

"So far everything is cool. We haven't really bumped into anyone yet and finished installing the transmitter in the IT floor – dude, your law firm must have spent millions on the tech alone. The entire floor is reinforced, cooling vents, and I have to admit that the people ain't too bad."

"_Hardison,"_ That was Eliot and from the annoyed tone, the Hitter was pissed about something. _"Geek over the tech later, did you get anything from there?"_

"Nope!" Parker answered, making a popping sound at the p. "Just a bunch of company files containing finances and forms. We're trying to find the good stuff. Didn't Mike say something about valuables in the partners' offices?"

"_Parker, didn't we already say no to side stealing?"_ Mike asked tiredly. _"Seriously, Parker, Eliot and I just finished with the police report and it doesn't look too good."_

Instant concern rose up in Hardison as Parker shared a look with him. Normally if Mike was worried, it usually amounts from nil to small concern. But if Eliot was worried about it with Mike…

"What do you got?" the Hacker asked as they came toward the conference room which was supposed to hold all of the information on the case.

"_At first glance, the damage looked like it came from a small badly made pipe bomb."_ Mike began but Eliot took over from there.

"_Except the leftover pieces of the wiring and timer show to be something more complicated than a homemade bomb. Judging from the materials and the way they were twisted – style of it looks like special ops ex-KGB."_

Hardison sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose while Parker looked both puzzled and amazed.

"Eliot, how can you tell it's a Russian bomb? Isn't wiring all the same?" the Thief asked as they reached to the door of the conference room. She took the key card they had stolen along the way, up to the reader. They entered the room with the cart left outside and turned on their flashlights.

"_It's a distinctive style."_ Eliot replied and Hardison could tell he was more frustrated with the danger than the question. _"If Alton Corp is hiring ex-KGB, then there is something really big going on. So watch your backs. We don't know if the mole is the ex-KGB or not. Mike and I are heading over to Alton to get their files on finances."_

"Okay, it shouldn't take us too – " but anything else he was about to say failed to go through as he eyed wall-to-wall boxes lined up in four rows. "Oh, you have got to be kidding me! Mike, don't these people know anything about electronic files?"

"_Yeah, it's ironic how people don't trust UBS storage."_ Mike replied sarcastically. _"It's a classic delay trick to bury lawyers in paperwork for days. We can get all the files electronically at Alton, and if Nate asks, we can get the ones from the client. But the paperwork being done on the case itself is store either in the Department of Justice, or in the firm itself in the computers except the work being done on the hardcopies. Without the hardcopies, we won't know what Pearson and Hardman have been doing." _Mike explained with a small amount of amusement.

Parker looked over the boxes before sighing. This was too much work to steal. Looking over the cart, she imagine they could squeeze about six of the boxes but it would take about 13 trips to get everything – half that if they could find another cart.

"Alright, I'll try to see if I can lock down parts of the building and – " Hardison began but then the lights suddenly turned on and both the Hacker and the Thief turned around to see a man who looked just a little shorter than Eliot with a shaved head, wearing a rather boring gray blue suit with a silver tie, black leather shoes, and a rather suspicious ratty looking face. Hardison felt his stomach drop as he realize that this man was most likely Louis Litt.

"What are you doing here?" the man asked in a quiet menacing tone as he shut the door behind him. There was a rather predatory look in his eyes as his gaze switched between Hardison and Parker. The two exchange looks and knew that they would have to hurry. It may be possible that Litt had not called security but they were not going to take that chance.

"Ah sir, we were told to do some cleaning." Hardison said as he added a Brooklyn accent to his voice. The ratty man wrinkled his nose before giving a snort of disbelief.

"Really? So how did you get in? With a key?" Litt asked with a mocking sneer. Hardison could hear Mike swearing in the background and Eliot telling them to just make a run for it.

"Yes!" Parker replied instantly. This surprised Litt for a moment before he shook his head.

"All right, enough with the games. Tell me who hired you and I'll make sure that you two won't go to jail. I'll just have you do community service for the rest of your miserable lives."

"We were told to do some cleaning, sir. Not our fault that we were told what to do." Hardison protested earnestly. The patronizing nod the man gave him was enough to make him grit his teeth. God, why can't this ratty man be stupid?

"Let's go over this, you people are supposed to be hired by this firm to do general cleaning. That means I, a partner of this firm, am one of the bosses. Now, general cleaning means hallways, bathrooms, and open public trash bins. This, a 'secure' conference room, is not open public. So tell me who paid you and we'll go from there."

Hardison was about to say something when Parker whipped out something from her back and the next thing the Hacker knew, Litt was shaking like a crazy man while a loud constant ticking filled the room. When it stopped, the man fell face down on the ground unconscious. Parker, however, looked very pleased with herself as she collected the wires to the stun gun. Then she noticed Hardison giving her a look of disbelief.

"What? He had a cell phone in his hand."

"_Holy shit! Did you guys just tased Louis!"_ Mike shrieked into the earbud. Looking down at the fallen man, Hardison gave the body a light kick but no other movement came from the man.

"Technically, Parker did," Hardison corrected as he bent over the man to check for a pulse and was relieved to find one. However he then noticed the cell phone in the man's hand and swore as he saw the number being dialed. "Okay, we need to go. Our man down managed to dial security. Looks like we won't be getting those hardcopies."

"_Fine, we'll be at the south side entrance in ten." _Eliot replied while Mike still moaned over the whole stunning thing.

"_Nate is going to kill us."_

Copy that, Hardison thought as he and Parker quickly closed the door, leaving behind Louis Litt sleeping on the floor.

"_Hey, just out of curiosity, did he wet himself?"_

Everyone on the comms had to hold their laughter in as Mike went on the hilarity of it all when the associates come in the morning to find Louis like that.

* * *

><p>The look on Louis Litt's face was worth all the excitement that was going on back at work.<p>

The man looked horrible in the hospital gown with gauze taped on his nose. And the dark bags that came with a nose break made him look like a pissed off ratty raccoon. Harvey had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from smirking because in reality, what happened to Louis was a serious matter. Hell, the man was sort of a hero since he kept the intruders from taking anything in the conference room – files that were directly related to Harvey's case.

Jessica had forced him to tag along with her visit to Louis who was staying in the hospital for a day for observation before he was allowed to go back to work. Needless to say, Louis was pissed because of the news that the security guards didn't catch the intruders and that the security camera could not get a good look at their faces at any angle.

"They assaulted me!" the junior partner ranted. "How can security possibly let them get away?"

"Louis, we are doing everything we possibly can. Right, now we can't get the police involve, but I assure you that I am getting to the bottom of this." Jessica replied as smoothly as possible. "Now, do you remember what these people look like?"

"Of course I do," Louis snapped and Harvey was amazed at the calm mask Jessica used. But then Louis was rarely rude to Jessica, so she must be making excuses with him. "Both of them wore similar cleaning uniforms like the company we hired. One was a tall male, African American, in his twenties – Brooklyn accent. Thin build but hard to say with the uniform on. If you get a sketch artist, I can describe him. The other was female, also in her twenties, tall, blond, and no distinct accent. Rather good looking and crazy because she was the one who tased me!"

Harvey coughed as he tried not to laugh out loud at the idea of a woman tasing Louis. Actually, the senior partner always thought that a normal woman's reaction should be to tase the man whenever the junior partner opened his mouth. However from the sharp glare Jessica was giving, this was no time to be making a joke.

"You know what?" Louis said with the tone of someone making a great discovery, "I bet it was Alton Corporations that did this! They must be desperate about something in those files and they attacked me when I caught them!"

"That's only speculation, Louis." Jessica said kindly and patted his hand. "Right now, just rest. Once the hospital lets you out, I'm sure Harvey would be more than happy to let you look over the finances with the case."

The senior partner was about to object but Jessica's look made him stop while Louis scowled.

"You're right; I am going to look at those finances. Hell, I'm going to get them to give over their personal ones too! I'll find those hired men if it's the last thing I do!" the junior partner ranted.

The man continued to rant out exactly what he would do to catch the people involved and how much he would sue them for damages. Actually it was creative of Louis, but seriously boring for Harvey. Honestly, he thought the burglars did Louis a favor in breaking the man's nose. Maybe when it heals, it'll improve the junior partner's looks.

"That's all nice, Louis, but while you're recovering, I'm going to do actually work with the files you risked your nose job for." Harvey commented with a smirk when Louis finally took a break to breath. Jessica rolled her eyes while Louis's face turned ugly with a sneer.

"Right, funny, considering the fact I never had one."

"Really? The nurse I banged last night had a pretty good description of you getting it done. Although you should sue since I didn't see a change."

"If you hadn't lost Ross, you wouldn't even need those damn files by now!" Louis snarled before he pressed his lips tight.

The three fell silent as Harvey glared down at Louis who refused to meet his eye. What Louis had said was a low blow and everyone knew it. While Mike was not a favorite with the associates who were jealous of his position with Harvey; the kid was actually popular with plenty of people in other departments. The guards watching over the lobby were always kind enough to watch out for the kid's bike – because no fancy pancy lawyer would be even caught dead riding a bike and Mike proved himself to be humble and pathetically lost half the time.

Head of IT was like a friendemy with Mike due to some bet but once in awhile, the man comes out of his little hole to challenge Mike in some computer game that kids these days play. Although the fact that two week after Mike had vamooshed, the IT guy had demanded to know where Mike was and sulked for a whole week before he cleaned up his act. Donna suspected that the IT guy was actually in communication with the kid but Harvey didn't want her in trouble if the IT guy quit due to fear of Donna.

Janitors even knew the kid by name because he was the only associate who actually carried their waste basket over to them. That, and Harvey suspected that all of them were playing fantasy football or whatever. Hell, even Louis like the kid in his own weird out creepy way. Mostly because the kid's work made him look good. Plus the kid was a source of amusement for the junior partner which was rather pathetic.

"Don't forget that it's been four years, Louis and still – " Harvey began dangerously but Jessica placed her hand over his bad shoulder and squeezed it. The force was not enough to make him relive the pain but it was enough to make it twitch at the contact.

"Louis, just rest. As soon as the doctor calls, I'll send someone to pick you up. You're welcome to take tomorrow off as well." She said with a small smile. Then turning over to Harvey, she led him out of the room.

They said nothing on the way back to work. What else was there to say about the can of worms that had been opened after four years – although three after Louis's bitching. Jessica had allowed Mike to leave because she believed that the kid was too soft, too naïve, and to be quite honest, did not have the political attitude to survive in her company. There was no mistake that the kid was good at his work, but she needed lawyers who think of the good of the firm. Mike Ross had been too idealistic which was something that was rare in a Harvard law graduate.

Of course the kid never actually went to Harvard Law but no one important knew that.

When the car stopped, Harvey was about to get out when Jessica spoke.

"There is a reason why Louis is still a junior partner and it has nothing to do with his abilities. Louis has everything the firm needs to be a senior partner, but I don't have a junior partner with the balls to watch over the associates. I should have if things were different. So don't take it out on him, Harvey because the last thing we need right now is a pissing contest. Someone attack a junior partner in my firm on company property because of your case. Win it."

He knew that Jessica had done what she said she would not do four years ago – apologized about letting Mike Ross leave the firm. The kid would have been a junior partner by this time if he stuck to it. But that was the past and the kid was gone. Who knew if he was just passing time by helping losers cheat on their tests because Harvey had others things to worry about. There was no time to think of what ifs.

"I'll win it and I'll even get Louis compensation for his nose job." The senior partner answered with smirk before getting out of the car. The chuckle that reached his ears made him relaxed. At least Jessica was going to put this whole thing behind. Harvey had no time to sit around talking about anyone's feelings much less Louis's or his own.

Because Harvey has a case to win and that's all that matters.

* * *

><p>"So, let me get this straight. You found out that there is an ex-KGB being hired by Alton Corp."<p>

Nate pointed to Mike and Eliot who sat to the right of him, each of them drinking long necks.

"And you two got caught and tased one of the partners in the firm."

This was said to Hardison and Parker, the former drinking his orange soda while the later was trying to get the last few drops of her Yoo-hoo. Hardison shrugged his shoulders while Parker completely ignored him.

"Technically, Parker did do a good thing. The dude called security and we would have been locked in until they did." Hardison pointed out without looking like he was defending the Thief.

Nate sighed as he closed his eyes at the latest developments to their job. Technically, he really couldn't blame Hardison or Parker with their actions. They have been in the game long enough that Nate trusts their judgment well enough. However it leaves them with a problem. Security is no doubt going to be tight and it sounded like the guy had a good look at their faces. Already, they were down three for the job with the law firm. Not that he wanted Parker in for the law firm – the job he had in mind was not her style. He had hoped to use Hardison instead.

"Anyway we can find out what what's going on with the law firm without the hardcopies?" Sophie asked with a worried frown. Nate looked over to Mike who shrugged.

"Only if we're going by assumption. I can look through all the files that we grabbed out of Alton but I wouldn't be able to tell what was given to Pearson and Hardman for sure."

"Plus we don't know if the mole is true or not." Hardison added.

"Fine, we'll worry about them later. Anything about motives for Alton to go against our client?" Nate asked hoping for some good news.

"Nothing obvious. We did a day and night watch over the place, but nothing out of the ordinary. Security guards aren't anything extra ordinary. The CEO is seen a couple of bodyguards but they're nothing special as well – ex-marines." Eliot reported as he leaned against his chair.

"Systems are good and standard for a company like Alton, they're secure, but nothing like the other companies we took down in the past." Hardison added.

"Security consists of a keycard and a pin, but levels can actually be bypassed by the fire escape." Parker stated as she reached for another Yoo-hoo.

"I checked the city records with our client and Alton Corps but there's nothing for Alton to gain by taking over. The location isn't the best if they want to set up a factory, and there are way too many newer properties for Alton to buy if they want to expand on the space. I mean that piece of land was considered to be a dump for nearly thirty years. Back then there were only a few novelty shops and a bank near it." Mike said when it came his turn. Parker looked at him in surprise at the news.

"Bank? I didn't see a bank near there."

"It closed down after it was robbed and got burned down in the process back in 1973. Robbers were never caught and no one knew how the fire got started. Three people died, I think." Mike added before he finished off the rest of his beer.

Nate was silent as he processed everything that was said. Something told him that there was more going on than a simple take-over. Because it was starting to look less corporate and more like a personal angle going on. Which meant that they need to figure who is the real mark in this job.

"Hardison, look into the top people in Alton. I want everything on the CEO, CFO, the board, the whole works. I want to know about their finances, background, their families, and their movements. Parker, you're going to work with Sophie and get into the Justice Department. Get copies of the paperwork and find out which judge is being called on the case. Eliot, Mike, you guys are going to find out about the KGB. I just want you guys to find him – do what you have to do."

Nate got up and was about to leave when Hardison asked him.

"What about you?"

"I am going to find out more about the bank."

* * *

><p>This was fun to write because of Louis. He's not my favorite character (Donna!) but he is fun to write. So were Harvey's reactions to Louis. I know it seems like I'm bashing Louis a bit but really that is all Harvey's fault!<p>

How do you guys like Parker in this part? For those of you who don't know, Yoo-hoo is a milk chocolate drink which is rather good.

So tell me how much you like this chapter while I think on what to do with the next part.


	4. Chapter 4: The Plan

Once again, I would like to thank all of the people who have read, reviewed, and loved this piece of fiction. It has been a lot of fun in writing.

**LiliFayre – Thanks for helping me once again! This fic would not be done today if you hadn't helped me!**

Hope you all love it!

Warning - unbetaed, will be later.

* * *

><p>Chapter Four: The Plan<p>

* * *

><p>"All right, so this is what we know."<p>

Sophie watched as Nate started the meeting. It has been two days since Nate gave out orders to find everything they can about the job while he ran off learning about the bank. The Grifter wonder just what the bank had to do with their job since Nate never did anything that was frivolous. Except when he was drunk or being stubborn or obsessive about something that came close to his son. She had to bite the inside of her mouth to prevent the small smile that was threatening to form. It seemed that this time though, Nate looked to her for strength at times. And he was confiding with her more about the cons – especially with this job.

Taking a quick glance over at one of the 'children', Sophie was practically giddy with anticipation for Nate to spring the news.

"Now Alton Corporations was founded in 1983 by Fredrick Alton who is still the owner but doesn't really get to involve with the company." Hardison began before using the remote and the screen in their safe house produced an image of a man in his fifties with shocking white hair, glasses, and an easy going smile. "This is Gordon Jones, CEO and basically the guy who made Alton Corps in the absence of the owner."

"Gordon Jones, however, is currently working over at the new branch in L.A., getting the whole thing started." Nate added. Hardison nodded and clicked his remote so that another image slid next to Jones. This man looked to be in his sixties with thinning gray hair, grumpy wrinkled face that made him look stern. He looked like the sort of man that everyone would say looked like any other old man. "This man is Elmer Benns, vice president and currently looking over the operations here in New York City."

"So Benns is our guy." Eliot guessed and received a nod from Nate and Hardison.

"He's our best bet. You see, Sophie and Parker's notes on the court papers have one of the department heads but that's pretty much a ruse. All of the money so far is coming from a shell company owned by Benns. I checked out the finances and there was a transfer of $15,000 about over a month ago to an off shore account. There was another of the same amount three days after the bomb. Now, as of four days ago, our Mister Benns has just transfer $20,000 to the same account." Hardison said as he displayed the statements on the screen. Eliot gave a nod at that before he looked at the others.

"Mike and I checked out the airport security as far back as two months ago. Originally we checked for private flights but we got nothing on them. Luckily, we managed to find our guy on camera."

Mike snorted at that.

"Hardly, you looked at the guy's back and said it was him – you figure it out by the way he walked!"

"Seriously?" Parker said with wide eyes. Eliot sighed and shook his head.

"That and the distinctive style bag he had on his back. Look, can we get back to the rest of this?" Eliot waited before continuing on. "We found him returning to the airport about four days after the bomb but Mike caught sight on one of the videos of him exiting out of the airport."

"So he's been here ever since?" Sophie inquired with alarm. Both of the boys nodded at that.

"Using all the available cameras, we tracked him as far as downtown, but after that, he seemed to just disappear. Eliot thinks that our guy is staying low in his own safe house." Mike answered with a shrug.

"Whatever it is, Benns must be promising a good pay out for this guy to stick around this long. That $20,000 is just a down payment for a bigger one." Eliot added. "There may be a chance that our guy has friends."

Sophie sucked in a breath as the news seemed to be getting worse. Of course taking down Monroe had been worse, but Russians were always troublesome to deal with. Still, having an assassin of sorts tend to make things difficult for them. Taking a quick look at Nate, Sophie saw that the Mastermind had his poker face on which could mean anything. No doubt, the man was thinking how to use the ex-KGB man to their advantage although the Grifter had difficulty in figuring that part out.

"And we still don't know if the law firm is in on it too." Parker added with an ugly pout to her pretty mouth. Sophie internally shivered and mentally reminded herself to unteach Parker that unattractive pout. Poor girl must have seen it on someone else.

"Or if the KGB guy is the mole hiding with them." Hardison added quickly, no doubt trying to down play Mike's old employer's involvement.

"If the guy is a mole it would be almost simple enough to figure out if he's in there." Eliot added with a nod.

The Grifter saw that Mike was ignoring the comments and was mostly focusing on the screen with the information. The poor boy, Sophie thought as she remembered her time away from the group because of her own identity issues. Finding that she was more herself with the group than without was a scary thing to believe and it had nearly taken the team's lives for her to realize that. The poor children had been secretly chatting with her every time they had an issue with Nate. Sophie wondered if this job would give Mike the closure he would need since he ran away from New York and all of his problems.

"So, vice president with an unknown agenda, a hired Russian with friends, and a law firm with unknown dangers." Sophie began but Nate interrupted her.

"Not unknown agenda."

Everyone looked over at the Mastermind as he got up and walked to the center of their little powwow. There was hint of smile and his stance was relaxed with the cup of virgin black coffee in his hand. Whatever the man found, it was nothing traumatizing that he would add a bit of whisky to his brew.

"Like Mike said, there was bank robbery with a fire. What was not found in the papers was that money wasn't stolen."

"What?"

Everyone looked a Parker who looked shocked that someone wouldn't take money from a bank. Sophie would see Hardison giving the Thief a rather found look while Eliot rolled his eyes and Mike shaking his head. Nate, of course, just continued on after a look.

"The survivors in the bank gossiped with some of the neighborhood stores which are still running today and some of the owners were kind enough to share that gossip with me. What the robbers stole was something from a deposit box. A Russian jewelry box."

Mike gave a snort at that.

"Seriously? A box? The thing better be encrusted with diamonds, rubies, and emeralds for the trouble they did." The Fixer commented as he leaned back against his chair. Sophie's heart skipped a beat at the idea of such a lovely piece.

"All of that and the fact that it was one of the lost pieces during the massacre of the Romanov family that belong to his wife, Alexandra. Never reported stolen officially though but it is heresay." Nate answered with a look at Sophie. She gave him a smile but said nothing. The Grifter was not going to deny that such a piece tempted her.

"Black market." Eliot mused.

"And must have pissed off the owner." Hardison added as he began to type furiously on his tablet.

However the Thief gave a sniff of contempt.

"Sloppy. I could have done better when I was ten."

Nobody commented on that because it was probably true.

"So how does our Mister Benns fit into this? Was he the owner or – " Mike began and Hardison finished for him.

"One of the robbers, but I thought no one knew who they were." The Hacker pointed out as they all waited for Nate to answer them.

The Mastermind gave a nod at their comment and took the time to take a long drink from his coffee. Then he looked at them with a smile the made the crinkles of his eyes more pronounced – it was a tell that he was about to share some juicy information. Sophie absolutely loves the crinkle as a tiny full body shiver reacted to it. It made the woman want to jump the man's bones.

"Actually, he was an employee at the bank – I checked the old files at the police station."

Everyone looked at the man with degrees of shock and awe. The group tends to avoid the police or any types of law enforcement unless it involves with a con. Usually, Eliot and Hardison worked together whenever they had to act as policemen while Mike and Parker acted as the FBI agents. Nate and Sophie rarely go near the police station for anything. A normal convicted criminal wouldn't dare to go into the belly of the beast after being stuck in prison for six monthes. Nate, however, just rolled his eyes at their looks before waving them off.

"I just told them I was a professor at a community college and one of the students in my journalism class had forgotten to add a few papers in one of the old files and I was there to return them. Look," Nate said as he connected his mobile to a USB port and a couple seconds later, an image of a list appeared on the screen. A few adjustments later, all of them could see that Benns's name was on the list. "He was actually a manager at that time. Now the other robbers are most likely dead or in prison for other crimes, but the thing is that the box was never recovered as far as anyone knows."

"So, after thirty years or so, Benns is harassing our client because of a jewelry box?" Mike asked with doubt. The Mastermind smiled and chuckled at the disbelief on the Fixer's face.

"Exactly. I'm going to take a stab that there was a double cross and somehow one of the robbers hide the box and never told the others about it. Then Benns comes along after thirty years, finds him and discovers that the box is hidden and learns the location."

Eliot groaned and shook his head while Hardison snorted and sighed.

"I can't believe that a Martin Lawrence movie is actually coming true." The Hacker stated before finishing off his soda.

"_Blue Streak_? That's like the story of my life except without the jail time first." Mike grumbled into his beer. Parker perked at the comment with interest.

"Oh! Is that the movie about the diamond? It was funny but the whole set up was stupid and the guy should have totally picked a few more wallets."

Eliot and Hardison looked over at Mike who twitched underneath their stares. The Fixer gave a shrug before straightening out.

"Hey, she had a taser. Movie night is always con movie night."

Sophie felt a stab a pity for Mike. She had tried to convince the Thief to watch a few of the romantic comedies with her, but the girl didn't get half of the story most of the time and she ended up at the wrong times. Also the fact that Parker tends to compare the characters with Sophie and Nate makes the Grifter stuff the girl with chocolates to silence her. Sophie was beginning to fear that she was creating a Pavlov effect with Parker.

"Okay, so our Mister Benns finds out that the box is on the property of our client and he wants to take over the property so that he has free reign. But why not pay some people to just sneak in and dig? It's much better than this mess and no one would ever know." Sophie inquired as got the 'children's' attention and they looked over at Nate.

"True," the man agreed, "but that means that the location of the jewelry box is some place that is not accessible, practically impossible for a simple job and needs time. I'll have our client give us access to as many blueprints as he has."

"So we know the mark, know the dangers, and know the complications." Eliot listed and nodded, "So what's the plan?"

The Grifter saw the look that Nate gave her before the man absently patted his side, no doubt wishing he refilled his flask because the plan was going to take some time to explain properly. She gave him a smile of encouragement and waited.

"Right, the plan." Muttered the Mastermind, "Well, it's going to be like this…"

* * *

><p>"<em><strong>Hardison and Parker, you guys are going to find and retrieve the jewelry box…"<strong>_

* * *

><p>"All right, so I checked everything on our Mister Benns and discovered on his car GPS that he actually went up to a state facility prison a few times before all of this mess started. Now after checking the records of the prison, we discover he was visiting one inmate who died two weeks ago."<p>

"He's Winky Brown and all we managed to get was autopsy reports because he got shanked." Parker added as she dumped the file with the photos on Nate's lap.

"Now, about the jewelry box, the best way I can find it would be a ground penetrating radar to find any irregularities in the ground." Hardison began as he showed Nate and Parker a demonstration. "A metal detector could work, but we don't know how deep our box is and it's been thirty years since it's been hidden."

Nate nodded at the information before staring at the demonstration that was before him.

"Good. Hardison, find records of payoffs with the guards around the timeline of Winky's death. Our client just gave me the plans for his company." The Mastermind said as he handed a UBS drive to the Hacker and then turned his attention of Parker. "Parker, go steal us a radar.

The Thief gave a grin as she skipped out of the room with her gear. Nate turned to see Hardison with a goofy grin on his face. It was a few seconds before the Hacker realize that his boss was staring at him.

"What?"

The Mastermind shook his head and walked away.

* * *

><p>"<em><strong>Sophie, I want you work on Benns. A guy like that is going to need look for a PR rep if there is any hint of a trial going on…"<strong>_

* * *

><p>Elmer Benns was walking towards his car with a hot cup of joe in his hands when something hit him on the head.<p>

"Suck it Corporate Man! We of the Green Trees say suck it with your chainsaws and inability to replant with real trees! Suck it!" a young male voice screamed out.

Benns reached out to touch what hit him and was disgusted at the sight of clear and yellow yolks that clung to his fingers. Another impact and egg hit him on his chest and ruined his suit. Looking up, the man saw a man wearing a neon green shirt, jeans, and a matching hat that covered most of his face before the culprit ran off. The vice president noticed that no one had bothered to rescue him or even went to catch the guy.

"But my company doesn't even cut trees!" He bellowed in disgust while his chauffer ran towards him with a handkerchief for his soiled suit.

"Doesn't matter with the nut jobs. They'll use any sort of weakness with corporate America to fund their cause." Drawled out a female voice.

Turning around, Benns was greeted with a sight of a dark and sultry woman in her thirties wearing a fashionable chic business outfit. She had a rather polite smile on her lovely face, but Benns could see that she was taking a business opportunity out of the whole mess. That was something he actually liked in a person despite their sex.

"Indeed, Miss…?"

"Leslie Cameran. I work for Sunders & Trum – a public relations consulting company, well to be honest, I'm the owner. I originally came here to look at some property to expand my business from D.C. Capital but I didn't expect to find some potential business right now." Miss Cameran answered with a teasing voice. "Trust me, sir, you would be amazed at how much work we get from our politicians. Only started out three years ago and now I'm ready to expand."

This was all said with a graceful confidence that Benns could not help but admire. A self made woman with class.

"I'm afraid I'll have to go, but here's my business card," Miss Cameran said as she passed him an elegant white business card, "And give me a call if you ever in need. Can never be too careful with the public."

With a wink, she slipped into a waiting taxi and left Benns smirking and looking over at the card. Looking out the window, she gave a wave and turned to face the driver.

"You have amazing aim, Michael. You got egg yolk in his hair." Sophie said with a giggle as the rearview mirror reflected the face of the Fixer.

"Yeah, it's amazing how people don't notice you when you take off the hate and put on a jacket."

"Don't forget our next stop." Sophie warned with a smirk. The young man slumped the best he can while sulking silently as he drove.

"How could I?" he moaned.

* * *

><p>"<em><strong>Eliot and Mike are going with the client to, uh, see the lawyers…"<strong>_

* * *

><p>"Jessica, you can't be serious."<p>

Harvey was sitting at Jessica's office with Louis and his taped up nose only to learn that he was going to have to share his case with some outsider. The managing partner gave the two men a stern look.

"I don't like it anymore than you do, but it's what the client wants. I don't know how he knew, but somehow he's learned that there has been a break in and that break in involves with his case. He has already threatened to take this whole thing public and I've only managed to stop him from leaving his firm by agreeing to his terms. He wants a pair of eyes that he feels he can trust."

"Really? And how can we possibly trust these new people, Jessica? They could be con men duping the client into ruining the firm." Louis argued while Harvey stayed silent.

Jessica was impressed that the senior partner was allowing Louis to finish his say without a smartass comment. However, she pulled up a file from her desk and gave it to Harvey who took it silently. The junior partner was trying his best to see the contents from his position without moving from his spot. Harvey ignored him.

"I ran a check on them and the client was more than happy to provide me the information. They're actually a firm from Dallas, Texas and they are quite impressive. They are retainers to both nation and international corporation and their pro-bono work is the best in the city. The client tells me that they are sending in their best closer with his associate." Jessica added with a look at Harvey.

The man only gave her a look before rolling his eyes.

"Cadmon & Green where everyone is family – good god, Jessica. Are you sure? It sounds like some retarded Hallmark card." Harvey said with disgust as he passed the file into Louis's eager hands.

"Well, you can tell them. They're waiting for us at the conference room." The managing partner said as she got up gracefully and led them to their guests.

The conference room was made mostly of glass so it was easy to get a good look at the newcomers. Harvey could see their client sitting with another and talking with them. A third was standing with his hands in his pockets and his back straight. He had a wide open stance and surprisingly long brown hair that was tied back in a horsetail. When he turned and caught sight of them, the senior partner saw that the suit the man wore was definitely tailor made of dark gray blue with gray pin stripes, a sky blue shirt, and a dark red tie. Thin wire classes perched on his strong nose that looked like it had been broken a few times and despite the long hair, the man had a serious face to him.

Strong, powerful, and deadly – the guy was definitely a lawyer Harvey might like, if the douche hadn't moved in on his case.

"Jessica, it's good to see you." The client greeted with a tight smile and gave a nod to both Harvey and Louis.

"And you as well, sir. As you know, this is Harvey Specter who has been working on your case and this man is Louis Litt. Louis will be helping with the case."

"I see. Mister Litt, I would like to give you my sincere thanks in stopping the robbers from taking any information from my case. I am sorry that you sustain injuries from it."

Louis was about to give his words but the client went on.

"Like I mentioned to Jessica, I have my doubts, but since this firm is willing to concede to my request, I would like to introduce you to Mister Kevin Hunter senior partner at Cadmon & Green. Also the best in the firm."

Hunter gave each of them a strong firm handshake and a short greeting with his strong Texas drawl. It wasn't corny like in the old Western movies but it something that was similar to John Wayne only darker and rougher.

"Good to meet you. And I would like to introduce to you my associate – " Hunter began as they all turned to face the last person.

* * *

><p>"<em><strong>Wait, Nate, I can't go with Eliot on this."<strong>_

"_**Yeah, well, actually you can."**_

"_**How? I'm with Mike on this. Four years doesn't mean they'll miraculously forget about him. Even if we dye his hair and put some make-up on him, they'll recognize his mug."**_

"_**Not if we…(mumble, mumble), Sophie can help you on it."**_

"…"

"…"

"…"

"_**Did you just say we're going to turn Mike into a girl?"**_

"_**PARKER!"**_

"_**WHAT?"**_

* * *

><p>"…Jenma Jenkins."<p>

This was addressed to the last person in the room sitting next to the client. Harvey took the time to study the blond young lady wearing chic office clothes that were charcoal gray pencil skirt with matching jacket, a cream color blouse, and a pale pink scarf around her neck. She was a pretty with make-up that didn't look like it was plastered and more like it was enhancing her looks. It was also obvious that she was a tall woman from those lovely legs.

Harvey had to admit, if the girl wasn't the guy's associate, he would have like to get to know her a bit better. Somehow, the girl's outfit made the blue of her eyes stand out more. However there was something about her that bothered him. He just could not place his finger on it.

Looking over at Louis, Harvey saw that the man was interested, but from the way the lawyer was glaring at them, it was obvious nothing was going to happen with that bit of skirt with him around. Harvey mused that Hunter would probably make a good sparring partner for boxing. He'll have to see if the man would like a match or two.

"Hello everybody!"

The faint hoarse female tone with the Southern accent that came out of the pretty mouth shocked everyone except for the client and Hunter. It was a funny voice to be coming from a girl so pretty. Hunter gave them all looks of apologies.

"Poor kid is a Cowboys fan and screamed her voice gone from cheering old games. The doctor says that she just needs to take it easy for a week or two for the voice box to recover. But she does good work, the best I've ever seen in my entire career."

Jessica gave a smile at that as she went over to shake the woman's hand.

"Well, I hope the two of you will be comfortable working here."

* * *

><p>"<em><strong>Huff, I, huff, I-I can't breathe!"<strong>_

"_**Just another inch and – yes! It's good. You'll definitely have a figure now!"**_

"_**Sophie, isn't a corset a bit too much?"**_

"_**Don't be silly, Nate. Mike needs to have a figure to make this work."**_

"_**I, huff, need to breathe, huff, too!"**_

"_**You'll adjust."**_

"_**This is, huff, cruel and, huff, unusual, huff, punishment, huff!"**_

* * *

><p>Mike gave a small smile as he shook hands with his old boss. If it could, his stomach would be dropping down to his toes after that first look with Harvey. Luckily, the corset that Sophie forced him to wear was preventing that.<p>

Great, he was going to have to work with Harvey and Louis.

"I'm sure we're going to get along just fine."

* * *

><p>God I am such a tease to you all. Mike and Harvey finally meet and it turns out like this! Oh dear, it appears Mike's cross dressing has made him into Louis's type! Don't worry! Eliot will save the day!<p>

Send me love and reviews!


	5. Chapter 5: The Con Part One

Finally the next part! Thanks to all of the people who read and reviewed and giving me the love!

For anyone interested in a great Leverage Eliot centric fic – read _**Four Is Not Enough**_ by LiliFarye! It is an amazing fic and more people need to read it! Her narration of the characters is spot on like in the series!

**To LiliFayre – This chapter has a bit of your favorite new pairing and it was fun to write!**

Warning – unbetaed. Will be someday!

* * *

><p>Chapter Five: The Con Part One<p>

* * *

><p>Donna loves working at Pearson and Hardman.<p>

It wasn't because she has the best boss out of the entire firm or that she has enough power to even make Jessica respect her, but it was mostly for the drama. Well, everyone's but Harvey's drama. From the boys at the mailing room to the senior partners, the drama always entertained Donna to the fullest. Especially Louis's because well, the guy was just asking for it.

The only downside of it all was that there was barely any eye candy for Donna. Not that there weren't attractive people working at the firm; but frankly suits, neat hair, and nicely shaven cheeks are the norm and it was like looking at grown up boarding school students. At least with the guys, the girls however have much more distinction. So when a client comes in, it was usually the highlight of Donna's hour to see what sort of person they are before they get their life sucked by the partners.

Okay, she was making most of that up – usually it was just the highlight of her minute, because frankly Donna had better things to do.

It is also rather ironic that Donna hates lawyers – at least those who don't work at Pearson and Hardman with the slight exception of Louis. With Louis, she just hates him as a man. The reason is that alien lawyers tend to look down on her because of her job description and because they want to look down her blouse. It was usually those times that Donna really hated not being able to do anything about the losers other than to make them as uncomfortable as much as she can while getting away with it. Harvey usually pretends to be doing something just so he could watch the show from the corner of his eye.

Mike, however…

Donna glanced over at the empty office beside her before turning back to her work. Mike Ross was a sweetheart until the idiot ran away, except Donna really couldn't say if the reality of not having any family – the last of your kind sort of way is an inexcusable reason to quit. After all, Donna grew up with a large family and they have been keeping in touch for years. Hell, even Harvey has family even though she had spent most of the time holding off some of their calls.

Anymore sad thoughts of runaways and family were swiped to the side as soon as she saw Harvey heading towards his office. From the blank look on his face, Donna could tell that the man was pissed off and it wasn't even ten – oh, wait there's Louis. Oh crap, Harvey letting Louis into his office means something bad is happening. The last time the man went into the office with Harvey's (Jessica's) blessing was like four years ago with that huge case of embezzlement. Shifting her eyes away from Louis (because who really wants to spend their time looking at the man willingly), Donna saw two new people behind him. One was a tall blond woman with decently stylish clothing although a bit more modest compared to what most of the females wore here at Pearson and Hardman. The redhead didn't get a good look at her face because her eyes zeroed on the man beside the woman.

He was shorter than the woman beside him and he was nothing like any lawyer she had ever seen. Donna had seen all sorts of lawyers since working at Pearson and Hardman. There were the cookie-cutter type douches, the smooth talkers (like Harvey), the losers (like Louis), the hippies who try to be professional but never could pull it off, and of course the boring ones. But this guy was nothing like them. True, his hair was longer like the hippies and pulled back, but it looked thick and Donna's fingers were itching to pull that hair tie out to see it loose.

The face wasn't the classic handsome or pretty boy look that most lawyer's have but it was definitely good looking and honest. There was also a touch of ruggedness to it that made her toes tingle. It made the glasses look more delicate. God, she loves it when a man looks so complex! Too bad his hands were in his pockets like he had nothing better to do than to walk to an office. But when he locked on eyes on her, Donna almost pushed her seat back to get some distance.

His eyes weren't the usual appreciative ones like most men gave her. It was like he was assessing her if she was a threat. And he didn't dismiss her, but kept his eyes locked on hers, but there was a small twitch at the corner of his mouth like he could not help but be amused or liked what he saw. Donna gave him a wide smirk just to prove that he better like what he saw.

"Donna, let me introduce you to some people, Kevin Hunter and Jenma Jenkins." Harvey stated with his most professional smile. It was the type of smile that signaled to Donna that he was less than pleased to introduce these new people to her.

"Ma'am." Hunter said with an offer to shake her hand. Donna took it and marveled at the feel of dry, strong skin and the firmness of the handshake. They were really nice hands. The woman, Jenkins, barely gave a wave before looking down at the floor. "Don't worry about her; she's just a bit shy."

"It's fine." And her eyes stayed with Hunter's who gave a small smile before letting go of her hand.

"Donna, get my associate to my office, we'll be waiting for her." Her boss ordered before turning to the others. "Donna is the best around here, so if you need any help getting around, ask her."

"Just don't ask me to get you coffee." Donna added with a shark's grin. Hunter's smile became wider while Jenkins did some sort of shiver – poor girl is afraid of her, how sweet.

"No need, ma'am. I'm man enough to get my own cup." Hunter replied in a low teasing tone. It had a growling factor to it that delighted the redhead way more than she wanted. Of course, seeing Louis fidget about being man enough made her day brighter as well. Poor Norma often complained about Louis asking for coffee.

Oh yeah, life was going to get interesting and Harvey can just suck it if he has a problem with it.

* * *

><p>"Oh god, she's going to out me."<p>

Eliot rolled his eyes for the hundredth time since he and Mike entered the law firm. At first he was amused about Mike's paranoia about getting recognized, but it was soon getting annoying that he was tempted to smack the man to get him to stop. Two things stopped him, one was that Mike had just suffered a very traumatic ordeal that no man should ever experience – and Eliot had many experiences. Two was that it would not look good for a lawyer to smack his 'female' associate in public.

"_Michael for the last time, no one is going to recognize you. We did a very good job in making you quite lovely and you are not going to ruin it by a bit of stage fright."_

The Hitter was thinking that it was more about the embarrassment than the stage fright but kept his peace on that. Besides, he was going to do the hard part in convincing the lawyers that he is one. Why couldn't Mike be on the sidelines coaching instead of cross dressing? Looking at the man who was currently hovering with his broken nose, Eliot had to bite his tongue to prevent from scowling. He was really tempted to break more than the man's nose. Maybe a leg or two to ensure that he doesn't ruin their plan.

"_Now remember, Michael, you are a young lady from the South who is naïve about the world and without a doubt a charming one."_

"Why couldn't I be naïve and charming young man?" muttered the Fixer. Eliot only snorted while Sophie scolded the younger man into submission. He had heard this argument before while Mike had protested against the plan. Nate had gotten drunk while he and Hardison pulled Parker away for Mike's sake. Mostly because Parker had wondered out loud if they would have to cut off –

Eliot shivered at the Thief's thought and turned his mind to more pleasant thoughts. Like with the redhead. Mike had bitched and moaned about Donna the redhead about her being as sharp as Sophie with better acting skills. The Hitter had to admit that redhead was quite a looker, but he kept his guard up despite the initial attraction. He liked the soft vulnerable types more than the sharp ones. The last sharp one turned out to be someone who possibly shot him years ago on a retrieval mission. Nothing turned down romance faster than that.

There was no doubt in his mind that Donna was a shark about men, although it wouldn't stop Eliot from flirting a bit.

"_Eliot,"_ Nate's voice came out from the argument between Sophie and Mike, _"Please run interference between Mike and this Donna. Just don't get distracted."_

"_And don't take off your earbud."_ Added Hardison.

"Aren't you and Parker supposed to be looking for that box?" Eliot growled lowly. Honestly, it was only a couple of times that had happen and the Hacker would not let it down. It's not like the man was flawless himself – Hardison still tends to stay up late at night to play those online games of his.

"_Working on it. We're going to try locating after work hours so less people can interfere."_

Eliot nodded to himself and was glad that the two lawyers were talking among themselves while he stayed close to Mike who looked like he was muttering to Eliot. Which was good because the device that Hardison and Mike created to help change the Fixer's voice was not doing a good job without the effort in making Mike's voice higher. The Hitter took his time to give himself a good look at the two men while they were preoccupied.

Louis Litt looked like a dick – that was all Eliot could say. However, Mike's paranoia was not unfound after what happed with Hardison and Parker. It was even worse now that they would be working with the man but Eliot was pretty sure that a few well place threats would shut the man. If not, Eliot could make a little accident happen.

The other lawyer, Harvey, was also a problem but less of a dick. Mike had done his best on what to expect out of Harvey Specter – that the man was as good of a reader as Nate when it came to people. However Eliot could tell that the stress of the case had gotten to Harvey to the point where the lawyer was going to slip a bit or two, which was a good thing because they need any advantage they can get to pull off one of Nate's crazy plans. And this plan was crazy.

A knock on the glass door got everyone's attention as a beautiful young woman wearing casual professional attire walked in with an expectant look. The woman was around Mike's age, maybe younger, with long brown hair, heavily creamed coffee skin with a light spattering of freckles which ironically enhanced her looks. It was obvious that her lips were made to smile but instead they were slightly pressed into a straight line.

Mike's slight hitch in breath caught Eliot's attention, but he simple angle his body with minimal movement and saw that the Fixer was surprised at the newcomer. The kid schooled his face fast enough to give an air of polite interest, but Eliot could see that Mike was shaken.

"She did it. She's a lawyer now." The Fixer muttered so quietly that only the ear bud picked it up. "Christ she's Harvey's associate."

"_Eliot, do we have another complication?"_ Nate asked tiredly.

"_Whatever it is, just shake it off, Michael."_ The Grifter warned.

"Zane, about time. I like you to meet your new best friend for the next few days – Jenma Jenkins." Harvey stated with a quick glance over at Eliot which made the Hitter guess the lawyer was doing some sort of power play because Mike gave a nervous glance. "Mister Hunter, Miss Jenkins, this is Rachel Zane, my associate."

"Hello." The associate greeted with a nod.

"Hi." Mike rasped and winced at the funny look he received. Eliot gave the younger man a nudge and a nod to tell him that everything was fine. Zane gave Mike a funny look but a smile crept over her face.

"Bad cold?"

"Cowboys marathon and screaming her little head off. Jenma here loves her boys." Eliot explained with a smile and a handshake. "Just call me Hunter – Mister is for my old man."

He could hear Mike snort as the associate looked charmed at the introduction. Eliot had to hold back a grin. Both Hardison and Mike could not believe how women fall for Eliot. It was something that made them envious of the Hitter. Of course there were a few ladies and men who thought of the younger boys but not enough to compare with Eliot.

"Enough with the pleasantries, we have a case to win, remember?" Louis sniped and Eliot gritted his teeth while Mike sighed. Harvey, however, had a different reaction.

"Louis, as much as I would love to congratulate the people who fixed your nose, it doesn't hurt for people to actually be polite for five minute." The senior partner mocked with such an innocent farce that did not fool anyone. "Please excuse his manners, he lately had a date with a floor and did get much out of it."

Eliot twitched his lips while Mike was coughing to cover up the laughter that was no doubt bubbling inside of that body. In his ear bud, Hardison was talking smack which made the situation even more hilarious.

"_Everyone, focus."_ Nate warned. _"Mike, go with the associate and start working on that paperwork. Eliot – "_

"On it." Eliot muttered under his breath. Then he looked over at Harvey with a tolerant smile. "I've meet worse. If you don't mind, I like Jenma to start working with Miss Zane here. Two pairs of eyes would make the work faster and Jenma is magic when it comes to research."

The associate looked over at her boss before a nod was given and she turned her attention to Mike.

"If you don't mind?"

Mike gave a scared glance over at Eliot before nodding and followed Zane out of the office. Eliot nearly gave a snort as Mike gave a wide berth from Donna's desk but luckily, the woman was more focus on her computer than on the girls. Letting out a breath, Eliot turned to see both lawyers looking at the girls and was unnerved at the look Louis was giving. No doubt the man was checking out Mike's ass as well as Zane's. True, the man's ass was fine looking in a skirt, but the thought alone made Eliot queasy. Because first off, it's Mike. Second it's just plain wrong to check out the ass of a man who is like one of his little brothers. Harvey's look was no better but Eliot couldn't tell if it was a leer or if the man was speculating on something.

Either way, Eliot had a job to do.

"My associate has been suffering a great deal of emotional stress lately." Eliot began with a drawl and caught the attention of both men. "Most of her family is damn crazy and pretty much blue blood. The only reason she's my associate is because my boss, Arnold Cadmon, is her godfather."

He let it sink for a while before taking a few steps towards the two men and gave his best glare. Both lawyers didn't move, but the dry swallow from Louis and the flare of the nostrils from Harvey was enough of a tell that they were a bit unnerved.

"Jenma lost her fiancée when the poor boy got struck by lightning." This, Louis wince.

"And her grandmother died from a stroke just last month." This, Harvey blinked.

"The last person who harassed the girl was not only fired from the firm – he couldn't find any work here in the U.S. Poor man had to run to Mexico to get a job."

"Are you threatening us, Hunter?" Louis hissed. Eliot backed off with his eyebrows raised.

"Threatening you? No, nothing like that." The Hitter answered evenly. He was a little put out that the men did not relax, that's lawyers for you. "It's a promise from Cadmon if my associate – his goddaughter, is distress for any reason."

While silence filled the room, he could hear the team chatting.

"_I think they get the point Eliot."_

"_Nah, keep going. Scare that rat bastard out of his suit. Do you know just how creepy the man is?"_

"_I want to tase him, again."_

"_Parker, we already talked about that. You can only tase people if they threaten you in the most obvious manner. We don't want another incident with the fork, right?"_

"_But that was years ago! I'm doing better! Hardison says so!"_

"_And Hardison is right, you are doing better. But let's lay off on the tasing until the Russian comes in."_

"_Please tase Louis. I think he was staring at my ass."_

"_Michael!"_

"Hunter."

Eliot turned his attention to Harvey who was giving him a rather tight smile but his eyes were as cold as ice.

"Let me assure you that no one in this firm would purposely cause any sort of duress towards your associate. That includes Louis."

The man in question looked like he wanted to protest at the unfair statement but a look from the senior partner silenced him. Louis then gave a nod to Eliot as further proof to Harvey's words. The Hitter gave the two stern long looks before finally nodding.

"Good, glad we got that out of the way. Because seriously I do not want to get on my boss's bad side. So, let's discuss about the case. I spoken with the client and advised him to threaten the opposite with trial."

Both Harvey and Louis looked like they had a lemon in their mouths. Taking a seat, Eliot watched over them with no amusement on his face. He was at a disadvantage with this role which would suit Mike better but he knew ways to push people – even lawyers. It was all about the bluff.

"That was presumptuous of you to advise _my_ client." Harvey replied tightly as he sat on his office chair and leaned forward on his desk. Louis stood behind him, letting the height difference give him the advantage to look down at Eliot.

"He's _our_ client and I think you will agree with me once you look at this." Eliot stated coolly as he pulled out the file Hardison made from the briefcase that Mike left for him. The file contained evidence against Benns as well as pictures of the bomb and a report of the analysis of the evidence.

He waited as the two lawyers looked through the file in silent interest. Leaning back against his seat, Eliot took the time to look around the office. He had to admit that Harvey Specter sure knew how to live and work right. Autographed baseballs and basketballs from all star players were trinkets that no doubt cost thousands to collectors. Taking a glance back, the shelves of records were what surprise Eliot the most. They look like the type of things that Nate and Sophie would like – not a man like Harvey Specter. Then there were plenty of hobbies that didn't really fit in with some people; like with Hardison and his art skills, Parker and that stuff animal on her bed, Mike with his collection of book – both rare and second hand, and himself with his need to have a good kitchen in any of the safe houses.

"How did you get this?"

The question was asked in a deadly tone which belonged to Louis. Harvey was still looking into the information, but Eliot was sure that Louis read enough to see that the information could bring them the upper hand. The real question was if the law firm was going to go against them or with them.

"Gentlemen, the real question you need to ask is how do we pin it on him? This information is legit through the many sources we have at Cadmon & Green. I can call in experts to go along with the evidence as well."

The junior partner was looking a bit greedy about shoving this against the opposition but Eliot gritted his teeth as he saw that Harvey was not coming around to it.

"And just what about Alton itself? Our client has lost money from the harassments as well as this car bombing, going after Benns is small time compare to what we can pull out of the company."

"Well, you first need to prove if the company is involved." Eliot growled and Nate reminded him to keep a low profile. "If we concentrate on the company, we're not going to get anything out of it. We attack Benns and threaten him with trial, we'll get more."

God, Eliot wish he could just punch something because judging from the looks between Harvey and Louis, the Hitter was going to need help working his way through this.

* * *

><p>"<em>Nate, I really want to hit them."<em>

Mike winced as he finished reading through another file when he heard Eliot complain. Although he didn't know if he was wincing from the pain of the killer heels, the tight corset that was currently digging into his hips, or the really restrictive underwear that was cutting the blood flow off his dick. There was also the urge to rub his face, but he couldn't because of the make-up that would rub off and make him look normal.

That was something that can't happen with Rachel sitting across from him with her own stack of files. Nor could he run his hands through his hair because he was currently wearing a freaking wig. Also, tapping his pen against the table would make Rachel annoyed since he remembered how many times she glared at him when he did in the past. So all Mike could do was twist the pen cap around to vent a fraction of his frustration.

God the air conditioning was a bitch – his legs are cold.

"_Don't. Now listen to me and tell them…"_

The Fixer ignored the conversation in his ear as he took the time to review what he read. So far the finances were normal with nothing showing up to be as Hardison would say 'hinky'. Looking over at Rachel, he was amazed that the woman he had an infatuation with was now currently in his old job. Mike wondered how that arrangement came about but he could easily see Rachel proving herself to Harvey that she was better than the regular Harvard douche.

She was still stunning and Mike had to admit that she starred in many dreams along with Jenny but that was years ago. Now, he could only appreciate her looks and longed for her friendship. But he already screwed her once by lying to her about the LSATs and that he kissed her while he was trying to get into a relationship with Jenny. It wouldn't do any good to show up one day and then spend months out of contract like with Trevor and Jenny. Those two understood that his job took a lot of his time but Rachel would be curious about it.

Curious like with Harvey.

Damn, Harvey looked the same. Well, except for the new suit and tie - the color scheme do doubt coordinated by Rene. The man still had his slicked back hair, his impeccable air of superiority, still bashed Louis around, and somehow it made Mike smile but it also made his chest tighten with emotion. Actually, it's really the corset; he was being to wheeze a bit.

"I'm going to get something to drink." He rasped as he got up, wincing at the squeaking of the chair. Rachel gave him a sympathetic smile and nodded. "Would you like some?"

"Yes, two sugars with two of the hazelnut creamers."

Mike nodded and smiled but it came off as a grimace as the change in position made the blood flow cause several parts of his body to tingle painfully. Shuffling along, he waved off Rachel's look of concern before closing the door behind him.

"Nate," He whispered, "so far, the finances are legit. I'll need to look at the files without witnesses to be more through, but if you're right about the mark, he's not going to be dumb enough to use company funds."

"_Good. Keep working on it. Eliot, see if you can convince the good men to give you a night to catch up at the office."_

"_Can I hang them off a building?"_

"_No, and you need to stop watching that show – it's giving you kids ideas."_

"Technically, it's giving Eliot and Parker ideas. Hardison and I are perfectly fine." Mike murmured as he tried to walk without limping towards the employee break room. His heels were being rubbed raw despite the bandages and the sides of his feet were getting blisters.

"_And why did I catch the two of you reading about micro bombs and collars?"_

"_Hey, that was just in case you ever needed one. You know, Nate, you tend to ask the impossible out of us. Making a statue cry blood? Creating a hundred year old book by scratch? Faking a volcano eruption?"_

"_I got it, Hardison."_

Mike smiled as he managed to grab to empty mugs from the cabinet and washed them before going over to the coffee machine. It was a new one but he had seen the model before so it was easy enough to make a fresh pot. As he waited for the coffee to fill the pot, Mike leaned back against the counter and eased his right foot from the shoe for a few seconds before giving the same treatment to his left.

"New shoes?"

The Fixer straightened and slammed his foot into the torture device. He bit his tongue to prevent a scream of pain but a moan escaped instead. Looking over at the doorway, Mike saw Harvey Specter looking – no studying him with a mug in his hand. Mike gave a nod in answer.

"First time wearing them?"

Mike fidgeted but gave another nod. This time, the senior partner gave a charming smile that did not make the Fixer's insides gooey – it was the corset that was squashing his organs to pulp. Mike's heart was racing from the fear that somehow, Harvey will know and it would be embarrassing and Mike was going to rant at Sophie for the idea. Luckily, Harvey stayed away at a distance.

"Your boss tells me that you are extremely shy. He also warned us – mostly Louis to keep away from you."

A smile formed on Mike's lips as he remembered the talk Eliot had with the two lawyers. He could imagine the look on Louis's face at being threatened. However he quickly wiped it off as he saw Harvey looking at him with some sort of intent.

"First time here in New York?"

Another nod.

"Huh, like baseball?"

This time a shrug.

"Too bad that next game is an away game, I think you and your boss would like it – he seems the sort to actually get his hands dirty." Harvey added with shrug of his own.

Mike was beginning to sweat a bit at this really odd interrogation. Was Harvey flirting? He had always imagined Harvey being cooler than this when flirting with a woman. Or was he trying to get dirt on Eliot's role and using the shy naïve associate to get the info. Yeah, that sounds more like Harvey. Relieved that he was not getting hit on, Mike only shrugged his shoulders and gave a small smile. The beeping from the coffee machine saved him.

Quickly filling the two cups, Mike moved over to the sugar and creamers while Harvey lazily moved to get his own refill. The young cross dressed man really wanted to call for help, but he was too close to Harvey and the man would have a chance to hear him. He was glad that his hands didn't shake as he put in the sugar and creamers into the coffees. Parker had drilled both him and Hardison to keep steady hands when they practice their slight of hand with her.

"How is the work coming along?"

Okay Mike was going to have to answer.

"Fine," he squeaked, "nothing unusual with the finances yet."

"Good," Harvey nodded and took of cautionary sip of his own mug. However his eyes remained on Mike who finished and was starting to shuffle her way back to Rachel. "I was hoping to invite you and your boss to dinner. Louis will be going as well as Rachel. Just a time to relax, discuss the case, and get a feel for each other. As Jessica reminded me, we need to work together."

"Uh," Mike began while thinking quickly of away to get out of it but Sophie cut in.

"_Accept it!"_

"_What?" _Eliot hissed.

"_Sophie – "_

"_Think about it. These are the key players on the case, it'll be good to get them out and the rest of us can check over their places and see if there are any clues in their involvement."_

"Uh."

"_Nate, you can't seriously be thinking about this!"_

"_She's got a good point. It's just one night out. Sorry Mike."_

"Mister Hunter is very picky about his food." Mike finally commented lamely. The senior partner only smirked at the excuse.

"Trust me; I know a place that he won't say no to. I'll have Donna give you the details."

With that the man walked confidently out of the room with Mike freaking out that he would have to deal with Donna!

"Eliot…" he whined as he slowly made his way back.

"_I'll deal with her."_

"_Now I just need to find the perfect evening gown for you, Michael!"_

"_Sophie…"_

When Rachel finally received her coffee, the associate tried to find out why the other woman looked so sad. Mike just waved her concern away and resigned himself for a new batch of torture when he leaves the place.

* * *

><p>Sorry it took me forever to get this the way I wanted! Yeah, Mike is going to be tortured again. I need to research to find the right evening dress for him!<p>

Yes, there is going to be some romance between Donna and Eliot because duh, they're awesome together!

Send me love and reviews!


	6. Chapter 6: The Con Part Two

To LiliFarye – sorry for not communicating you lately even if your computer broke on you! But I know you love this fic and you have been supporting me on it!

Warning – unbetaed!

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><p>Chapter Six: The Con Part Two<p>

* * *

><p>Parker loves chocolate.<p>

She also loves the color green (for the American currency) and any other colors if they are put on special bits of paper that are valued in odd increments. Black is her favorite color for clothing and pink is okay if it's on really cool stuff like the parachute that Hardison gave her to escape from the job in Dubai. She likes it when Eliot beats up the bad guys for her and that sometimes he cooks dinner for them. Sophie is her go to person when it comes to weird feelings – mostly for Hardison and she likes getting chocolate from the older woman. Mike is always fun too whenever she breaks into his home to have a movie night. He always has popcorn and chocolate for her. She also likes Nate because he was funny when drunk and always gets them out of trouble – no matter what.

However her favorite person is Hardison with his funny expressions, his eager-to-please-Parker attitude and recently someone she could trust to have her back. She may even have deep feelings for the man whose code name is pretzels.

Although right now, Parker was really beginning to like Mike as a girl. It was like having a little sister who sort of looks like her. And it would mean that the Thief would get out of the jobs she didn't want – like the grifter jobs that Sophie can't do. If Mike stays a girl, Parker wouldn't have to do as much extra grifter work and she could pair up more with Hardison. Plus, Parker could steal girl Mike's clothes instead of spending her own money buying regular clothes.

"Oh god, someone just shoot me."

"Enough of that, we worked very hard on this, Michael, so don't you dare ruin it."

The Thief looked over to see Mike and Sophie are arguing in front of the mirror in the safe house where everyone else was trying to ignore them. Eliot was currently fixing his suit for dinner – something light gray with a lavender shirt and a violet tie with gray and blue stripes. He wore antique silver cufflinks and still wore his hair up which made Parker want to yank on the tail. As if sensing her thoughts, Eliot gave her a warning glare before fixing the glasses on his nose. Pouting, Parker fiddled with one of her lock picks, eager for the dinner to start so she could break into Harvey Specter's home.

She really wanted to see the glass elevator.

"Besides, Nate worked very hard in finding you the dress." Sophie added with a touch of irritation. The said Mastermind studiously ignored everyone around him as he steadily drank his Irish coffee.

In truth, Nate didn't work too hard to find a dress; the man simply picked one out and gave it to Mike to try on after Sophie made the poor man try out dresses that would look good if Mike were really a girl. They were all lovely, however each of the dresses had at least one problem like hiding the special harness for the fake breasts, were too clingy even for the special underwear to hide Mike's manhood, and some of the designs were too much for the man to move freely in. The Fixer had tripped on at least five of the dresses when Sophie made him walk around.

However the dress that Nate picked was just right – it was even one that the Thief would like to have once Mike gets done with it. The dress was a Chinese style knee length dress that was created with dark olive Thai silk, V-neck front that was closed up to Mike's chin with red cloisonné buttons, a slit on the back which makes it easier to move around in, shoulder caps with red piping, and there were dragonflies all over it. The best part of it was that it covered everything necessary to hide Mike's manly figure. Sophie had even found a matching red thick silk shawl to keep the Fixer warm.

"God, what's this tingling on my lips? Is this an allergic reaction? Seriously Sophie, just what is this stuff?"

"That's just your lips getting plumped. Don't rub at it or you'll get it everywhere. This is color stay and you'll get stains all over you. I was right about the dark red – suits this dress quite well. Now, put on your shoes."

"Thank god they're not heels." Grumbled Mike as he slipped on the satin olive green ballet flats.

"Heels are for power play, but for an evening dinner where everyone is getting to know each other, it's better for your character to fall back on her charming self." Sophie instructed as she fiddled with the wig before she was satisfied. It was a blond thing that had half of the hair up with antique silver and jade pins and the rest of it down.

"Looking good, man." Hardison commented with a tight smile. "There's no way they'll recognize you for sure. So, if that rat bastard tries anything on ya, just give me a sign and all of his finances will become as messy as Watergate."

"And you can stab him with your fork if he gets weird." Parker added which got them all to look at her funny again. "What?"

Hardison gave her arm a loving pat in which she appreciated very much. Nate groaned at her suggestion before getting up to either clean up his coffee mug or get a refill with more whisky than coffee. Mike had a contemplating expression on his face before it turned to guilty as Sophie vigorously told the Fixer that if he gets blood on his dress, that he will be answering to her about it. Eliot only shook his head, but the Thief instantly saw that he was grinning at the idea.

"Okay, since Mike is now ready for dinner, let's go over everything." The Mastermind announced with his full cup of steaming coffee.

The plan was simple enough. Eliot and Mike were to go to dinner at some place called Suits (Mike had complained about people knowing him or something) with the lawyers. Meanwhile, everyone else goes in and breaks into the apartments of Harvey Specter, Louis Litt, and Rachel Zane. Hardison had already checked everything from financials to phone records with the three so it was now time to do things the old fashion way.

Parker loves it when they had to do things the old fashion way.

"Now Parker, Specter recently took out $5,000 in cash from his account after making a phone call to a certain number. I need you to find that money and place this bug in it." Hardison added as he placed the bug in her open palm. "That way we can find out for sure which side the lawyers are playing for."

"Meanwhile, Hardison will be checking out the home of Louis Litt." Nate continued before giving the Hacker a hard look. "And please don't do anything there – we don't need to make the man anymore of an asshole than he is now."

Mike snorted at that while Hardison sulked. Parker rubbed the Hacker's arm and received a small smile. She leaned in and whispered a promise that they could wreck the apartment when the job is done. That got her a full blown grin. Everyone else ignored them.

"And you and Sophie will break into Rachel's place. Great, just don't forget about checking the place and not other things." The Fixer concluded with a smirk but winced as Sophie smacked his ass. "What? Not my fault I walked in on you two flirting!"

"You could have knocked." Nate grumbled but there was a hint of a smile when he saw the Grifter spank the younger man.

"Can we just get this show on the road? I just want to get this dinner over with." Eliot grumbled as he fixed his glasses for the third time. The delicate wire rims were becoming a pain to him. Mike sighed before shuffling over to the Hitter and bumped shoulders.

As they all left the safe house, the Thief wondered briefly if Eliot and Mike would get any chocolate cake for dinner and if both men would be willing to give her a piece each.

* * *

><p>Harvey shifted a little as he waited patiently for the last two guests to reach their table.<p>

"Quit that." Donna hissed as she smiled wide at the sight of them.

"What is she doing here?" Louis whispered harshly at the senior partner's side. Harvey rolled his eyes at the little man before answering.

"Because she managed to get a table at New York's hottest restaurant with only one phone call. You want to tell her to leave?"

He was satisfied at the look of fear that flashed across Louis's face before taking the time to concentrate on the two arriving visitors. Hunter looked proper in his suit that fitted him so well that it was obvious everything was tailor made. Texas either had a very good tailor in Dallas or the man found a suit here in New York. It made the man look almost as good as Harvey. Then his gaze went to the side to see the associate.

For a minute, Harvey was surprise that the height difference was much shorter than it was earlier, but a quick glance to the floor made him realize that instead of the heels, the shoes were flats. He almost snorted at the whole outfit but quickly hid that reaction by taking a sip from his water. It was obvious that the associate was trying to dress up in her first night in the Big City. The whole outfit was some sort of Chinese design style dress of olive green with dragonflies all over it with red hemming with matching shoes. The red shawl and the dark red color of her lipstick made a dramatic effect that was not overly done since the rest of her make-up was discreet with neural colors. At least she didn't do anything ridiculous with her hair which was partly up with hairpins.

She was defiantly getting the attention of many men and a few of the women. From the look on Louis's face, the junior partner was definitely interested. Harvey kicked the man's leg and minutely shook his head which got an eye roll from Louis. However the man changed his expression to a blank one.

In a way it was odd at how the associate dressed and how she was currently acting. The outfit screams out attention but the girl was acting as shy as a damn virgin about to be sacrifice. God, he would hate it if that girl was his associate. At least Zane had enough personality to work with him. How Hunter could even work with her was beyond Harvey's mind.

"It's cute."

Harvey blinked as he tilted his head towards Donna's direction. Then he carefully looked at the razor sharp smile on her face that was turning more into a grin with each second.

"What is?" he murmured as they all stood up to greet their guests.

"The associate. She's scared of me. I barely said a single word to her and she's shaking in her little ballet flats. It's cute and empowering."

A few points went up in Harvey's meter as he saw that the redhead was right, Jenkin's looked like she was about to faint and her blue eyes were glued to Donna. Donna's smile grew wider and Harvey swore that he could hear a whimper before the two finally reached the table. Hunter looked like he was amused and annoyed while the associate was trying to look at anywhere that is not Donna.

"Ladies, gents, I didn't think that Miss Donna would be joining us." Hunter greeted as he pulled a chair for Jenkins that was next to Rachel while taking the chair of the opposite side of the associate – next to Donna. That meant Harvey was sitting across of the shy associate, boring but better than looking straight at Louis's face all evening. "Not that I mind, you look absolutely stunning, Miss Donna."

The senior partner rolled his eyes as Hunter kissed Donna's hand before giving a polite nod to Zane who smiled back. However he did admit that Donna did look stunning with the black velvet cocktail dress and string of pale pink pearls. Also those matching heels made her legs look killer.

"I invited myself along for the ride, to even out the numbers." Donna teased with a flirty tone. "Besides, I always wanted to try this place out."

Suits had opened at least two years ago and already the place had been in the New York Times Top Ten Places to Eat this year alone. The atmosphere of the restaurant was light and airy. According the latest interview with the owners, the restaurant was originally a theater before the owners bought it. Cream, ivory, and dark oak were the main colors with a touch of gold. Harvey actually liked the color scheme and the ten foot glass chandelier was quite impressive. It was elegant and not overly done – definitely not like those fancy places that Louis likes to have dinner at.

The food itself was supposed to be something that could compete with the chefs from all around the world. From French to Japanese, the menu changes based on the season, the month, the week, and sometimes even the day. However they still have the basic stables of a good steak and potatoes which is a must with Harvey.

"So what's good here?" Hunter asked with a smirk at them all. Jenkins fidgeted in her seat before Harvey saw that her arms were moving minutely in a timed pattern. It was obvious that the girl was fiddling with the napkin on her lap. "And sweetheart, just water for you."

The glare the girl gave to her boss was strong enough to kill and Harvey was impressed with it. Maybe the associate wasn't as much as a pussy as the senior partner had thought. Everyone at their table heard her graveling mutter but only Hunter understood what she was saying and his smirk grew broader before he causally signaled a waiter. Everyone ordered their drinks with Jenkins grudging ordering water with lemon – no ice and pouted when the drinks arrived.

It wasn't until the waiter came back for their orders that Jenkins actually talked.

"I'll have the steak – rare with the onions, the baby roasted garlic herbed potatoes, and the steamed buttered broccoli."

A rather odd order since it was normal compared to what everyone else had ordered. In fact, Harvey couldn't remember seeing that order on the menu since it was mostly made up of creative dishes that made Zane giddy with choices. He had ended up ordering a Chilean sea bass dish with steamed rice just to bother Louis who had gone with a veal dish and spent at least five minutes telling the waiter about his food restrictions. Hunter shared a glance with him over Louis's bitching before ordering a spicy Indian dish that was a hybrid of a curry and stir fry. However the waiter didn't even seem surprise at the order and simply collected all the menus before assuring them that their orders will be on their way.

"Seriously? First time in New York and you just want a steak?" Harvey asked as he stared straight at the associate. The girl squirmed before shrugging her shoulders. Taking a glance at Hunter, he saw that the man was being distracted with Donna for the moment and he waited for the answer.

"I like steak."

"There's nothing wrong with a little familiarity, Harvey." Louis sneered before turning to the girl with a smile which made Jenkins pale underneath her make-up. "I can sympathize with wanting to stick with the safe choices when traveling into a new city. There was one time – "

Zane gave Harvey a look that told him she was considering in asking for a bonus to put up with Louis yakking at her to have a conversation with the other associate and the senior partner was considering it. Well, he was more on thinking of ordering more of the wine to keep his associate happy. From the way Jenkins was looking over at everyone else's drinks, it was obvious that she wanted something stronger than water to deal with Louis.

They spent the next fifteen minutes chatting and drinking wine when their orders finally came – everyone's but Jenkins.

"Excuse me! But where's her order?" Donna demanded while Jenkins tried to assure Donna in her scratchy voice that it was okay. The waiter gave a polite smile before answering.

"The owner is still working on it. She said that she will personally bring out the order."

Jenkins protested that it wasn't necessary but the waiter only smile and shook his head.

"I'm sorry miss, but she insisted that she provide the service."

The look on Jenkin's face was that of dismay and Harvey watched as Hunter raised an eyebrow before the associate shook her head. There was something really wrong with this whole picture but for the life of him, Harvey was unable to understand why. It would seem impolite to eat when one person still didn't have their order, but Hunter insisted that they eat before it cools down and Jenkins smiled in agreement while taking a roll apart on the serving plate. Zane offered some of her own food but the other associate just smile and shook her head.

Not that Harvey could blame her – the dish was really odd, a mix of Middle Eastern and French styles.

As everyone raved about their food (Harvey not so much despite how much he internally moaned at the tenderness of the fish and the look from Donna told him that she knew) a pretty blonde wearing a black cocktail dress walked up with an order and Harvey nearly choked on his last bite as he barely recognized the woman to be Jenny – Mike's ex-girlfriend.

She had a smile on her face that slightly faltered at the sight of him, Louis, and Zane before her eyes quickly took in on their table. Harvey could see that she looked surprised, then confused, before it turned to uncertainty as she placed the food on the one empty spot.

"Sorry about the delay but usually most people stick with the menu." She commented with a smile. Then after a minute of staring down at the hunch figure of Jenkins, Jenny turned her attention to Zane. "Hey, Rachel."

* * *

><p>"<em>Michael, remember, take slow calm breaths."<em>

Right, like that was something he could do right now with Jenny standing next to him and chatting politely with Rachel. Mike wanted bang his head against the table because he was stupid enough to order his favorite because he wanted comfort food in a stressful situation. He should have remembered that Jenny knew that he orders off the menu and that it was always the steak. Why couldn't he order one of those weird dishes on the menu?

"_Don't worry brah, it's not like she's seen you as a girl, right?"_

"_I need a drink."_

Mike agreed with Nate on that last point. He needed a drink too and he couldn't because he was a normal drinker but alcohol could make it a bit difficult to keep his voice at an acceptable pitch for a sick female. He stared longingly at Eliot's glass of red wine before taking a large gulp of his lemon water. Stabbing one of the potatoes, Mike munched on it and was happy that it was cooked just the way he liked it. Soon, he found himself hungry after being nervous and skipping lunch because of the emergency shopping trip for a dress and began to cut up the steak that was so tender that it melted on his tongue. Mike had to keep stuffing food into his mouth to prevent himself from moaning like a food slut because he doubt he could pull off moaning like a woman too well. His concentration on the food before him almost prevented him from paying any attention with the outside world when someone said his name and nearly reacted to it – the years of working on cons prevented a near disaster.

"You know, I thought it was Mike who ordered that."

Mike kept on chewing and took his cue from Eliot as he turned to stare at Jenny who looked down at his order with amusement.

"Mike? You mean Mike Ross Mike?" Rachel asked surprised. God it was hard to keep a dumb bimbo face on. Parker was so much better at keeping that sort of face.

"Yeah! I mean the last time he came was like a few months ago and I cooked him a meatloaf with mac 'n cheese, but still he usually orders this." Jenny answered and gave Mike a smile. "Did you found out the external menu on the website? Mike suggested doing that so we can change the menu here which gives the customers more options."

He quickly nodded his head while keeping his mouth full.

"_Wow, Mike, you got some really bad luck."_

"_Parker, please tell me you found something."_

"_Oh right! This Harvey guy has aaah lot of stuff here. Oh! Chocolate!"_

"_Girl, what did we tell you about eating on the job?"_

"_But it has gold flakes!"_

Mike closed his eyes so he could roll them. It would be like Harvey to have chocolate with gold flakes. The man probably bought the stuff to impress the one night stands he brings in. Then he briefly wondered if using chocolate with gold flakes would be bad for fondue.

"So how is Mike doing these days?"

This was inquired by Louis who had his fake smile which made Jenny's smile falter for a moment before her smile came back with an uncertain element to it.

"Oh, um, he didn't tell you? I thought with him talking with me and Trevor that he would tell you." She replied while glancing over at Rachel who slowly placed her fork by her plate. Mike felt like his insides twist at the sight of Rachel's muted but hurt face. Yeah, he was a dick.

"_Parker will you quit fooling around with the chocolate and just bug the money?"_

"_Oh, did that already. You know, Mike, your Harvey guy has a nice safe – it took Hardy a twenty seconds to open it."_

"_Girl, it's called the Parker 2000."_

"_No, he's mine and he's called Hardy."_

Mike barely heard the slight groan from Eliot and nudged his foot against the Hitter's in silent support. Everyone has heard this argument going on for months since Hardison made that safe cracking thing of his. In a way, Mike and Sophie thought it was sort of romantic that Hardison made the thing – sort of like a love child for the Hacker and the Thief.

"Trevor is here?"

The dark and dangerous tone came from Harvey and Mike was slightly surprised that the senior partner would still act like this with his best friend. It wasn't like Mike was his problem anymore. Jenny's smile fell completely from her face as she turned to the man.

"Yes, he's the co-owner of Suits. Mike helped us out with the capital and we've been doing well since. We're getting married next month and – "

"Sweetie."

The cross-dressed Fixer viciously stuffed a large chunk of his steak and chewed. He was pretty sure that he looked like some pissed off chipmunk from the way Donna was looking at him like he was adorable and gross at the same time. However he was more concerned with the fact that Trevor had just walked up to the table to come to Jenny's rescue. His best friend gave a quick kiss on her forehead before whispering something in her ear. Whatever it was, it gave her an excuse to leave because she gave her apologies and quickly left in the direction of the kitchens.

"_Okay, it's clear over at Litt's place, there's nothing here other than opera posters and expensive champagne. Think I should take a bottle?"_

"_What year and region?"_

"_Sophie, don't encourage him. We'll steal it after the con."_

"_Oh! Can I steal the chocolate later too?"_

"_Parker, get out of Specter's place and don't take anything from there. We're almost done with Zane's place as well. So we can official say that they got a mole."_

"_I'll start checking on employment records as soon as I get to the safe house. But Nate, what about the KGB guy?"_

"_We'll worry about that later."_

Sometimes, Nate's priorities really scare the living crap out of Mike.

"First time here at Suits? I recommend that you order the sample platter for the desserts as well as our coffee sampler." Trevor commented kindly. However it was obvious that his best friend was trying to avoid looking at Harvey.

"Well, Trevor, I'm amazed with what you accomplished these past four years."

Mike rolled his eyes against his lids before taking the time to chew a bit of broccoli. He was starting to wish some sort of disaster would come around – like a robbery. Then Eliot would do his awesome ninja combat skills and they would pay attention to the Hitter and forget about the whole Mike issue.

"I can't take all the credit. My best buddy helped out with the money. Mike practically paid this place." And this was said while Trevor smiled and gave a good look around. The Fixer took a quick look at Harvey and winced at the expression on his face. Donna, however, saw it her chance.

"Really? The boy must be making a fortune to give you the money. What's he doing?"

He watched Trevor hesitate a little before shrugging his shoulders.

"Mike doesn't really talk much about his job. I just know that he's helping people that even lawyers like yourselves can't. Well, I hope you all enjoy your meal and for Mike, I'll have someone send you a complimentary bottle of the house wine for tonight."

There was a release of tension that flowed out of Mike as he discreetly watched Trevor leave their table. It looked like Trevor didn't recognize him underneath the wig and the make-up. That was going to be one blessing Mike was not going to take for granted. It was probably the only blessing he was going to get out of this whole con.

"Well, it looks like your old protégé is doing quite well without you, Harvey." Louis commented with one of his fake smiles.

For a moment, Mike felt his heart stop at the idea of him doing well would affect Harvey. But just as quick, he dismissed the idea and Harvey's smirk and reply. It was comforting that Harvey knew how to put the man down.

"Louis, Mike spent nearly a year working for me and I recall how many times you tried to steal him – he's smart enough to take what he learn and do well. And it looks like he's actually doing better than the two of us combine which is rather sad for you since you're still in the same level – below me."

Mike had to duck his head and press his lips tightly to prevent the wide grin that was threatening to come out. He had to admit – he rather missed seeing Harvey put down Louis. There were plenty of times that the Leverage group has their banters but it was just friendly stuff. What goes on between Harvey and Louis was epic and awesome.

"Not to interrupt, gentlemen," Eliot drawled while giving a wink and Donna who smiled (Mike shivered at the idea of something between the Hitter and the redhead), "but who is this Mike Ross?"

"He's Harvey's old associate. A genius but he quit four years ago. A cute little puppy." Donna answered with a serious face that it was obvious she was having fun mocking the two arguing men. "The boys there fought over the poor thing until he ran away. But enough about lost puppies, tell me, how is it that you got yourself into this case?"

Eliot gave out the cover story that Nate provided for them while Mike finished the rest of his meal quietly. It was the usual friend of the family sort of thing and if they ever decide to look into it, Hardison had all the paperwork online to feed them. There were also some pictures as well – the Hacker was always overachieving when they weren't in a hurry. Like that time in Rio where they were setting up that crooked hedge fund manager (there were a lot of jobs with those guys) where Hardison had the fun time of creating life long histories for each of their covers. Each of them had a file full of information in which Eliot had demanded for the cliff notes version and Sophie had suggested changes for hers.

Parker made Hardison explained hers, and Mike read all the files per Nate's order and ended up mostly as back up for the team. That had been a pretty boring job, but it was pretty awesome in staying at a four star hotel.

Mike was washing done the last of his dinner with his water when someone caught his eye and the involuntary action of gasping caused the water to go down the wrong pipe. He choked furiously to get air into his lungs as he hit his chest (not helping because the fake breasts were in the way.) Luckily, Eliot reacted and pounded on his back hard before the Fixer slapped at the Hitter to stop him.

"Oh my god! Are you okay?" Rachel asked in alarm as she handed him her napkin. Mike accepted the offer and gave a nod to her question. Eliot began to rub his back before leaning into his ear to ask.

"What the hell, Ross." He hissed but Mike shook his head.

"11 o'clock." Mike answered before pressing the napkin to his mouth. When Eliot gave a growl, the younger man knew he caught sight of their ex-KGB agent who came with three other men. It looks like their presence was causing them to speed things up.

"Nate, we got another problem. Our ex-KGB is here with three others." Eliot murmured and continued on looking like he was being concerned with Mike.

"_We're all done here, Hardison, did you get check out if there were any bugs?"_

"_Nah, but it's possible that they didn't know about Litt."_

"_Then how did they know about the whole dinner thing?"_

"_Parker, are you out of Specter's place?"_

There was a pause before everyone on the com heard a ding of an elevator.

"_Parker?"_

"_Yes, Nate?"_

"_Are you in the glass elevator?"_

"_No?"_

Then there was a rustle of a wrapper crinkling and someone chewing.

"_Parker, please tell me you didn't take the chocolate."_

"_Nahooh."_

No one in the group believed that answer.

"_Forget it. Eliot, Mike, get out of there and follow the agent. If they attack, stop them. Everyone else, let's get back to the safe house."_

Mike stayed quiet as Eliot made their excuses. He mentioned that the rest should stay for the dessert and that the bill will be picked up by them. The Fixer mentally winced at the speculated look on Louis's face. The man was going to order the most expensive wines again like he did during the Rookie Dinner. He made a mental note to warn Eliot about it before they left.

As Eliot led him away from the table, he took one more look over at the table. Rachel gave him a small smile and a little wave that he returned with a smile of his own. Louis was looked like he was scheme and resisting the urge to reach for the wine menu. Harvey was watching the two of them with a look that Mike remembered to say 'God I'm so glad I'm not him.'

However his heart froze at the look Donna was giving them. It was not the 'Die, you lowly peon' or the 'Bitch, please' looks that Mike observed and received when he worked with Harvey. Because he would really like to receive any of those looks instead of the 'Oh! Secret! Me want to dig and me will find' look that Mike had only seen once when one of the associates was trying to hide the fact that he was sleeping with one of the mail clerks – one of the males ones.

He really, really hope Donna did not figure out he was cross dressing.

* * *

><p>Oh god! I am so sorry for the long wait! I was stuck about this whole dinner thing and then realizing that I'm not going along with the story. Also I have the urge to try to do some work with my other fics that they started a war in my brain where I threw myself into reading fanfics of all fandoms!<p>

Anyways, I like to thank everyone who has given me reviews, alerts, and read some of my other fics. Please keep on supporting me and LiliFarye who has written so many awesome fics!


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